Her Mysterious Return
by FranknNancyHardy
Summary: Updated. AU. Years ago, Frank's wife was murdered. Later, he fell in love with Vanessa, married and had 2 daughters. Then one day, another daughter shows up, from his first marriage, who he hadn't thought of in years. Also, a mystery woman suddenly shows up.


A/N: I don't own Frank Hardy, Vanessa Bender, or anything else from the Hardy Boys world. Neither do I own the New York Mets, NY Giants or Citi Field.

Rated M for language and other things. If you're not old enough, this is NOT for you!

I'm reposting this because when I originally posted, I forgot to change some names around from the original story, which is an original story to begin with and not a fanfic of any kind.

For those who read my story 'Missing', you may recognize some characters/story points. Originally that story, this one and a few others were original short stories of mine that I wanted to rename main characters and use them in Hardy Boys Fan Fiction, even though it would be AU.

You could say that this is a 'sequel' to 'Missing' but it's not a true one since when I rewrote 'Missing' and this one, I changed a few things around, like Frank not ever marrying Nancy and instead marrying my OC, Michele. Also, since I haven't rewrote my other short stories for this fandom, I did include the main points towards the end so it brings it all together.

Sorry for the long 'rant'. Hope you enjoy.

**Her ****Mysterious ****Return**

Prologue

_Frank Hardy is in his office at the 8th precinct of the New York Police._

_As he is putting everything back in its place, he hears a young woman's voice coming from outside his office in the bullpen._

_He walks to the doorway and looks toward the direction of her voice._

_She looks about seventeen or eighteen. She has beautiful long blonde hair. She is kind of big-busted for someone her age._

_She 's wearing a tight pink shirt, her nipples protruding through the thin fabric._

_She's also wearing dark blue jeans that are a little tight on her. A small, gold, hoop earring hangs from her right earlobe._

_She 's sitting in a soft cushioned chair at an officer's desk._

_The young officer is typing on his computer. He has short, dark, wavy hair._

_When the officer usually stands, he stands around 6'2" off the ground and weighes around 210 pounds._

_The officer is wearing his usual black uniform like all the other cops of that precinct._

**OFFICER:** Your full name?

**YOUNG WOMAN:** (with a sigh) Kara Denise Hardy.

**OFFICER:** Your mother's name?

**KARA:** Michelle Andrea Hardy, but she died when I was two years old.

**OFFICER:** Your father's name?

**KARA:** I didn't know my father that well. After my mom was killed, he sent me to live with my aunt and uncle in Texas. But I think his name is Franklin Richard Hardy.

_Frank is ecstatic and couldn't believe his ears._

_This young woman is his daughter from his first wife Michele, who died while working with him on a case._

_He walks over to the desk and asks the officer..._

**FRANK:** What's going on here Danny?

_She looks at him with a look that said 'Who's this guy?' but she doesn't say anything._

**DANNY:** This young woman here was charged with possession of cocaine. By the way, what's your middle name Frank?

**FRANK:** My middle name? Richard is my middle name. Why?

**DANNY:** I asked because she said her father's name is Franklin Richard Hardy. She isn't quite sure though because she didn't really know him that well.

**FRANK:** Well, it could be a coincidence that there is another Franklin Richard Hardy in the world.

**FRANK:** What college did your dad go to?

**KARA:** Bayport University.

**FRANK:** Well, maybe it isn't a coincidence because I went there and there was only one Frank R. Hardy that went there and that was me. Looks like I'm your father Kara. That is your name isn't it?

**KARA: **Yes, that's my name. But are you really my father?

**FRANK:** Yes, I am your father.

_She then gets up out of the chair, and hugs him._

**KARA:** I've missed you so much. I've been in tons of trouble and had no parents to turn to. I had my aunt and uncle but it just wasn't the same.

**FRANK:** I'll take care of this. Do we have any evidence that she had possession?

**DANNY:** No, not really but what about the charges brought up against her?

**FRANK:** Did you search her and/or her belongings or her house?

**DANNY:** Yes but we didn't find anything. What about the anonymous phone call we received about this?

**FRANK:** That person must have a problem with her and just wanted to cause trouble. Since there is no evidence, the charges are dropped.

_Then he walks her into his office with his arm around her._

**FRANK:** How've you been?

**KARA:** Like I said earlier, not too well. I've been in trouble with the police on numerous occasions, mostly over little petty stuff.

_After about an hour or so talking and catching up, the two of them walk out of his office and outside the precinct into the late afternoon sun._

_They walk to his blue convertible, which is parked in the parking lot right next to the entrance. They drive to his home in Bayport, New York._

_It 's a big, brick three-story house with a two-door garage, four bedrooms, two complete bathrooms, an in-ground pool out back and a huge backyard._

_When they arrive, he drives into the garage after the doors automatically open._

_He drives and parks next to the 4x4 black SUV that he and his wife Vanessa share._

_After he finishes parking, they both get out and walk inside the house via the door inside the garage._

_Once they are inside, he points her in the direction of the living room and then sets off to find Vanessa._

_He finds her in the kitchen. He walks up to her and kisses her._

_She is still very attractive even though she is in her late thirties._

_Frank once described her as 'a thirty year old inside a twenty year old's body'._

_She has shoulder length ash blonde hair, is around 6'1" and looked great._

**FRANK:** You wouldn't believe who I've found today at work, Vanessa.

**VANESSA:** Who'd you find?

**FRANK:** I found my daughter from my first wife. You know, the one who died in the line of duty.

**VANESSA:** Oh that's really wonderful honey. Let me see her.

_He then takes Vanessa's hand and walks with her towards the living room._

_It 's a big room equipped with a 36" flat screen TV, a DVD player, a stereo system, surround sound system, a big couch, and a recliner._

_Kara is sitting on the couch, looking aimlessly around the room._

**FRANK:** Her name's Kara.

_Vanessa then walks over to her, sticks out her hand and says hello._

_Kara shakes her hand but doesn't' t say anything._

_MELISSA, Frank and Vanessa's oldest daughter, comes downstairs and walks into the living room._

_When she sees Kara sitting on the couch, she stops and stares at her._

**MELISSA:** Who's that?

**FRANK:** Melissa, this is your older half-sister Kara. She is my only child from my first wife.

_Melissa then walks over to Kara and says hi._

_A few minutes later, Frank walks upstairs and shows Kara around._

**FRANK:** This room will be your room. _(Points to the empty room opposite to the master bedroom.)_ Where have you been living for the past couple of years?

**KARA:** I've been living from place to place since I was sixteen. I lived with a couple of friends. Then I started doing drugs, so I lived with my drug buddies.

**FRANK:** Do you have any personal belongings?

**KARA: **No. Not really.

**FRANK:** That's okay Kara. Vanessa, your step-mom, will take you shopping for new clothes and other things you may need. (He kisses her cheek and turn to leave.)

_A couple weeks later, Frank and Vanessa go out one night and leaves Kara to watch Melissa and Michelle._

_Around 10:30 that night, after Melissa, fifteen years old, and Michelle, three years old, go to bed, Kara is sitting on the couch watching TV when the doorbell suddenly rings._

_She jumps up and walks to the door. She thinks it is her parents._

_But when she looks through the peephole, she sees someone completely different. She sees a tall man dressed in black._

_He has a mustache and has dark, wavy brown hair that is in a crew cut._

**KARA:**_ (after looking away from the peephole.)_ Who is it?

**MAN:** _(sarcastically)_ It's the pizza delivery guy.

**KARA:** I didn't order a pizza, but come in anyway. I'm starving.

_When she opens the door, he grabs her left arm and turns it awkwardly behind her._

_She winces at the pain now shooting through her arm. He takes out a knife and holds it against her throat._

_He lets go of her arm and grabs her left breast._

**KARA: ** _(starting to cry)_ What do you want?

**MAN:** What do I want? I want to fuck you.

_Then he pushes her towards the couch. He closes the front door that is still standing open. He then walks towards her._

_He pushes her down on the couch and he rips off her shirt. Lucky for him, he doesn't have to hassle with taking her bra off._

_She isn't wearing one. Then he rips her jeans off, exposing her hot pink boypants._

_He places a couple fingers on the top part of the boypants and begins peeling them down her long legs._

_He unbuckles his belt, unbuttons his jeans and boxers, and begins to rape her._

_He fucks her from behind. He slaps her ass a couple of times while he thrusts._

_Then he suddenly stops. He tells her to stand up for a second. He then lays down on his back._

_He tells her to sit on him, enveloping his long shaft between her lips, and to begin thrusting up and down._

_She does what she is told, even though she really doesn't want to._

_While she is on top, he grabs both her round, huge breasts from behind and starts kneading them and flicking her hardened nipples with his thumbs._

_One time when she screams, he smacks her and tells her: _

**MAN:** Shut up you fuckin' bitch.

_A few minutes later he tells her to stop and to get off him. He gets dressed quickly and leaves._

_She then picks up her clothes, goes upstairs and quickly dresses into new clothes._

_She calls the police right after she finishes dressing and tells them everything that has just happened._

_A few minutes later FRANK and VANESSA arrive home and see the squad car out in front of the house._

**FRANK:** Oh no. I hope Kara isn't in any trouble again.

_They park their car in front of the garage and run towards the front door._

_Walking through the door, he shouts:_

**FRANK:** Kara! Kara!

_She runs from the living room towards him and hugs him tightly. Tears are running down her face._

**FRANK:** What's wrong sweetheart? _(Hugs her)_

**KARA:** I was raped dad!

**FRANK:** _(shocked)_ Raped! When!

**KARA:** It just happened about fifteen minutes ago.

_He walks over to one of the officers, who are looking around and told him:_

**FRANK:** I'll take it from here, officer. I'm a detective from the 8th precinct and I'll take care of it.

_Then the officers leave the house._

_Then Frank takes Kara to the hospital. _

_Once they're there, the doctor does a rape kit on her and a rape thereapist talks to Kara, telling her that if she ever needed to talk to someone to call the number on the card she was given._

_Luckily, there was no trace of semen inside of Kara._

_After they were all done, Frank drove her back home._

_As soon as they got back, he told her:_

**FRANK:** Kara, honey, don't worry. I'll be back in just a minute. Why don't you just go in and sit on the couch?

_He sees, then motions to Vanessa to go upstairs with him. Once inside their bedroom:_

**VANESSA:** What a terrible thing that happened to her.

**FRANK:** I know. Hey Van, listen. I hate to let you sleep alone tonight because of what's all happened in the past, but I want to watch over her.

**VANESSA:** It's okay. She needs you right now. Don't worry about me. I'll be all right. I'll lock the windows and the door. I'll even sleep with your baseball bat just in case.

_Then she kisses him._

_He walks back downstairs and sees that she is curled up on the couch. She looks at him when he walks into the living room._

_She starts to say something but he holds up his hand._

**FRANK:** Shh. Just go to sleep. No one is going to bother you anymore tonight. I'm here now. Just lie down and go to sleep.

_He kisses her forehead and then walks over to the chair and sits down, facing her._

_Early the next morning, he wakes up and sees that she is still asleep._

_He walks over to her, picks her up, puts her over his shoulder, and walks slowly upstairs to her room._

_Even though she weighes only 98 lbs., she is still heavy to carry._

_When he gets to her room, he walks over to her bed, puts her down gently, trying not to wake her, and places her in her bed._

_Then he bends over and kisses her cheek and left._

_He walks across the hall to his and Vanessa's room._

_He sees that she is curled up in her pink, silk nightie and is sound asleep._

_He sees the bat up against the wall beside her. He walks over to her and gently kisses her._

_He then looks at her._

_He loves the way her nightie playfully flirts with her bodacious curves._

_He wishes he is there sleeping next to her, his massive arms around her voluptuous breasts._

_Then he gets dressed for work. He walks out of the room, walks downstairs and leaves for work._

_Later that day, Kara, Melissa and Michelle are home and Kara is watching them, while their parents are at work._

_Around five in the evening, a strange white car parks outside their house._

_A guy gets out of the passenger side of the car. He is big and muscular._

_He is about 6'5" 225 lbs. He has dark brown hair. He walks up to the door and rings the doorbell._

_Kara answers the door. She opens the door._

**MAN #2:** Hello Kara. We meet again.

**KARA:** _(frightened)_ What do you want? What are you doing here?

**MAN #2:** Oh, I think you know why I'm here.

_When he goes to touch her, she tries to run back into the house, but he grabs her right arm._

_Then he shuts the door._

_She smacks him and he grabs her throat with his free hand._

**MAN #2:** You try to scream and I'll choke you to death.

_Then he picks her up, puts her over his shoulder and walks over to the car._

_He opens the trunk, gets out a big roll of duct tape, and ties her hands and feet together._

_He places a big piece over her mouth._

_He rips half her shirt, exposing her left breast. He gives it a squeeze._

_He then picks her up and puts her in the trunk. He closes it and gets in the car and drives away._

_An hour or two later, when Frank and Vanessa arrive home, he sees that Melissa and Michelle are fine but he doesn't see Kara around anywhere._

_He asks Melissa:_

**FRANK:** Where's Kara?

**MELISSA:** I don't know daddy. Someone rang the doorbell, she went to answer it and she didn't come back. I think she knew the person or something.

**FRANK:** _(enraged)_ That's it! She will never baby-sit those two again alone.

**VANESSA:** Frank, dear, calm down. Maybe something happened to her. You don't really know what happened. .

**FRANK:** _(calming down) _Maybe you're right. I don't have a clue about what happened. But I do mean it when I say she can't baby-sit those two while we're both gone.

**MEANWHILE**

_In an old, abandoned shack in the woods somewhere outside Bayport, the guy who kidnapped Kara is tying her wrists to a head post on a bed and her ankles to a foot post._

_But before he ties her up, he takes her shirt and jeans off along with her shoes._

_All she has left on are her white ankle socks, her hot pink bra and her hot pink boypants._

**MAN #2:** Now, you just stay right there and don't try anything or it'll be the end of you.

_He then grabs her left breast and her right breast and gives them a squeeze._

_He kisses her on her pouty lips._

_She spits in his face._

_He slaps her and tears begin falling down her cheek._

**(Hardy's house)**

_Vanessa stays home with Melissa and Michelle while Frank leaves to go search for Kara._

_He searches for about an hour or so, but couldn't find her._

_One day, a few weeks later, when he comes home, he walks to the living room, sits on the couch and just starts quietly crying to himself._

_Vanessa comes in from the kitchen, sits down beside him and hugs him for a long time._

_Then she starts crying also._

_He hugs her and they sit there together for a while, hugging each other and crying._

_The next day, Frank wakes up and walks to Kara's room and looks inside the empty room._

_He remembers like it was yesterday that she was in her room sound asleep when he carried her to her room the night of the rape._

_He then walks downstairs to the living room. He turns on the TV to the local TV station._

_They are showing coverage of the kidnapping._

_By this time, the kidnapping is a major story._

_The guy who kidnapped her is in the little shack and has his TV on to the kidnapping coverage as well._

_She makes a noise but it is a muffled sound._

_He had put duct tape over her mouth to help keep her quiet._

_He gets up and walks into the room she 's in._

**MAN #2:**_(angry) _Now you're gonna get it.

_He smacks her hard and then begins raping her. He rapes her almost exactly like the rape before._

_After a few minutes, he gets off top of her and walks into the other room._

_She still has tears in her eyes because of what has happened._

_At the Matthew's house, Frank is still glued in front of the TV set._

_Then he gets up and walks to put on his coat. As he was leaving:_

**VANESSA:** Where are you going?

**FRANK:** I can't just sit here. I've got to do something, so I'm going to help look for her.

_He kisses her and walks out the door. He gets in his SUV and leaves the house._

_After hours of searching, he comes home._

_He walks inside, hangs up his coat and sits in the chair in the living room._

_He sits with his head in his hands. Later that night, he walks upstairs to his bedroom._

_He gets into bed next to her and put his arms around her and goes to sleep._

_A few weeks later, he receives a phone call._

**MAN #2:** You want your daughter back, detective? If you cooperate with me, you'll have her back unharmed. Don't try any funny business or you'll never see her again. Alive anyway. You and those other cops can't even find the place I'm keeping her. You'll never find it because it's very well hidden.

_The phone clicks. Frank hangs up depressed and a little frightened._

_A few days later, Frank receives another call, explaining where to meet. They are to meet at a bar in Manhattan._

_Once Frank arrives there, he walks up to the bar and sat down._

**BARKEEP:** Want anything?

**FRANK:** No. I'm just meeting someone here.

_He sits there for an hour and a half. The kidnapper never shows._

_While Frank waited, he had ordered a few glasses of water._

_He gets up, puts down some money for the water and leaves the bar. He drives back home._

_As he is driving home, he notices something far away from the road on the left side._

_He sees what looks like a building. There are lights on inside of the building._

_He turns onto a gravel road and parks not far from the main road._

_He walks in the grass towards the building. It's the kidnapper's shack._

_Once he gets near the house, he walks quietly as possible around the side._

_He looks in the first window and sees a TV on. He walks to the next window and peers inside._

_He sees her tied to the bed, wearing only her bra, boypants and socks._

_She is gagged and looks like she has bruises on her cheeks, neck, and arms._

_All of a sudden he hears the TV being shut off. He ducks to the side of the window._

_He sees the kidnapper come into the room she is in._

_He can't hear everything that is being said but he hears him say,_

**MAN #2:** Now you just lie there and keep out of trouble. I have to go out for a little while but I'll be back.

_Frank is suddenly alarmed. __**What if he sees my SUV in the driveway, **__he thought._

_He looks around the back and is relieved._

_He sees another driveway going in the opposite direction. He sees the kidnapper get into his car and drive away._

_Frank waits until he thinks the guy was far enough away._

_He walks inside through the back door. He walks quietly into her room._

_She senses it 's the kidnapper and becomes tense._

_She sees his darkened figure and opens her eyes wide. When she sees who it is, she relaxes._

_First, he unties her wrists and ankles. Then he takes the gag out of her mouth. When he finishes:_

**KARA:** Daddy, am I glad to see you!

**FRANK:** Shh. I know. I missed you too. But we don't have much time. Get dressed so we can leave.

_He kisses her forehead and gives her a big hug._

**KARA:** Daddy, I don't know what he did with them.

**FRANK:** Okay. Don't worry. I'll look for them.

_Then he walks into the next room._

_He comes back to her room with her jeans. He didn't find her shirt anywhere._

_He hands her the jeans._

**FRANK:** Here. Put these on.

**KARA:** What about my shirt?

**FRANK:** I couldn't find it. But don't worry about it now. We don't have time. We've got to go.

_He walks to her and carefully picks her up. He puts her over his shoulder and walks towards the front door._

_He walks out the door and quickly walks towards his vehicle._

_When they get to the SUV, he puts her in the front seat and walks around to the driver's side._

_He gets in, shuts the door and starts it up._

_Then he darts out of the driveway and drives home. She lays down on his lap and goes to sleep._

_The kidnapper comes back. When he walks in through the back door, he says out loud:_

**MAN #2:** Kara you bitch. I'm home.

_He expects to hear something but doesn't hear a thing. He walks to her room and looks in._

_When he doesn't see her, he becomes furious and runs out to his car and speeds towards the other side of Bayport._

_When they arrive home, Frank gets out, picks her up and carries her inside up to her room._

_When he places her carefully in her bed, she begins to say something but he stops her and kisses her forehead._

**FRANK:** Shh. You're home. You're safe now. Go to sleep.

_He turns her light off and walks to his bedroom._

_He walks in, gets changed, and curls up next to Vanessa and goes to sleep._

_The next morning, Melissa gets up and goes to school._

_When Vanessa awakens, he tells her of what happened the night before._

_As soon as he finishes, she gets up and quickly walks to Kara's room. Kara is already awake._

_Vanessa walks inside the room and sits down beside her and gives a big hug._

_The hug lasts for a few seconds._

**FRANK:** By the way, who was that who kidnapped you?

**KARA:** I don't have a clue daddy. The only guess I can think of is a friend of one of my old drug buddies. This guy once told me if something ever happened to him like getting arrested, he said he would send someone after me. Oh Daddy, I'm so scared because I have no idea what plans he may have for me if he ever kidnaps me again. The first time was bad enough.

_Later that day, while Vanessa is out shopping along with the younger daughters, Frank is in his study and Kara is upstairs showering._

_Somehow, though, Kara's kidnapper finds a way inside the house without making a sound._

_Once inside, he creeps upstairs towards the bathroom. Frank hears something or someone going up the stairs._

_He grabs his bat and walks upstairs._

_When the kidnapper is standing in front of the door, he silently turns the knob and goes inside._

_He tiptoes to the shower._

_When he is about to pull the shower curtain aside and look at her wet, sexy, naked body,_

_Frank swings the bat and whacks the guy across the back of the head._

_Hearing this, Kara turns the water off and sticks her head out to see what the commotion is._

_She sees the kidnapper lying halfway in the bathtub with a bloody gash at the back of the head._

_She screams her head off. She screams because she thinks it is her father._

_From the back, the kidnapper looks almost like Frank._

_Then Frank walks towards her so she could see who hit the guy._

_Once she sees that it is Frank with the bat, she screams even louder because it is a stranger in the bathtub with blood coming from the back of his head._

_Frank tells her to calm down. He drags the guy out of the bathroom and then picks him up._

_He carries the guy downstairs and then down to the basement._

_While he does this, Kara gets out of the shower and dries herself off. She then walks to her room._

_What they didn't know is that the guy who kidnapped her is not the one being put downstairs in the basement at all._

_He is outside, hiding behind a tree looking in her bedroom window with a pair of binoculars._

_He sees her bare breasts through his binoculars and smiles mischievously._

_He watches her put on a purple lace bra and fasten it behind her._

_Then he watches her bend over as she puts on her matching purple lace thong._

_After this, she pushes up on her breasts to make them look even bigger than they already are._

_Feeling as if she is being watched, which indeed she is, she goes over to the window and pulls down the shade._

_He takes the binoculars away from his face. _**I'll see you later**_, he thinks to himself._

_Then he walks to his car, which is parked on the next street and gets in._

_Then he drives away._

_Around five in the afternoon, Vanessa and the two younger daughters come home._

_Frank walks over to her and tells her the events of the day._

**VANESSA:** Have you asked her yet?

**FRANK:** No, I haven't asked her yet but I will.

_At six, they sit down and eat the dinner Vanessa has prepared._

_When they are finished, Melissa and Michelle go upstairs to their rooms while Vanessa and Frank clear the table._

_Vanessa loads the dishes into the dishwasher._

**KARA:** Well good night, everyone. I'm going to my room.

**FRANK:** Hold on just a minute. (_He motions for her to go sit down on the couch)._ Who was that guy who kidnapped you?

**KARA:** _(getting nervous)_ I don't know. _(Looks down at floor)_

**FRANK:** Look at me. Yes you do. Don't lie to me. Now, who was he? _(Pulls her chin up so she could look at him)_

**KARA:** He was someone that was a friend of one of my old drug buddies. _(Starts to cry) _Oh my goodness, this must be what he meant when he said he would get even.

**FRANK:** What who meant?

**KARA:** Back when I was doing drugs, one time this guy who got hold of the drugs got a shipment of an illegal drug that had just been discovered. For a while, I didn't say anything. Then when I quit, I went to the police to turn him in. When they came to arrest him and his buddies, he told me that he would get even with me someday. He told me I wouldn't know when, where or how he would get even. Oh daddy, I'm really really scared.

_Then she runs over to him and gives him a big, long hug._

**FRANK:** _(hugs her)_ Shh, don't worry. Nothing is going to happen to you again. They'd have to kill me to take you again.

_Then he picks her up and carries her in his arms to the sofa and puts her down._

**FRANK:** Go up and get her pillow, babe. She'll be sleeping down here for a while, with me watching over her. I'm sorry I can't sleep up there with you. I hope you understand.

**VANESSA:** I understand completely.

_Then she quickly runs upstairs to fetch Kara's pillow._

_When she comes back down, she hands it to him._

_He tells Kara to lift her head so he could put her pillow under her head._

**FRANK:** Watch her for a sec. I'm going up to get my gun and my bat to use, just in case anything happens.

_He then runs upstairs to their room to get the gun and bat._

_Later that night, Frank is awakened by something. He looks over to the couch._

_He sees Kara is still there. He smiles._

_He quietly gets up, grabs the gun, and walks in the direction of the noise._

_It's coming from the kitchen. He walks in the kitchen and sees the refrigerator door open._

_He holds his gun in both hands and gets ready to shoot the person. The door closes._

_He sees who the person is. It is Melissa. He relaxes, putting his arms down:_

**FRANK:** Melissa, what are you doing up?

**MELISSA:**_(startled) _Daddy! I was thirsty. I was looking for something to drink.

**FRANK:** Well, Melissa, hurry up and drink. Then get back to bed please.

**MELISSA:** Okay. _(Drinks glass of milk quickly, then goes back upstairs.)_

_The next morning, Frank wakes up. He looks over to where Kara slept._

_He sees that she is still sleeping on the sofa. He gets up, walks to the bathroom, and takes a shower._

_When he finishes, he walks down to the kitchen and begins to eat a bowl of cereal._

_By this time, Vanessa and Melissa are up and getting ready to go to work and school, respectively._

_Vanessa wakes Michelle up and gets her ready for day care._

_Around five-thirty later that day, Frank comes home from the police station expecting to see Vanessa and their three daughters home._

**Maybe they went shopping or something, he thought.**

_He looks around for a note from Vanessa stating where they are._

_When he doesn't find one, he thought maybe she thought they weren't going to be that long._

_He waits for them to come home. A few hours later, he starts to get worried._

**FRANK: **_(to himself)_ Where are they?

_Then he gets a phone call. He picks up:_

**FRANK:** Hello?

**MAN #4:** Missing anything, detective? I believe you now have four lovely ladies in your family, no?

**FRANK:** Who is this?

**MAN #4:** Who is this, you're wondering. Well, I am your worst nightmare, Mr. Hardy. For you see, I was once the leader of a very infamous gang. I believe you've heard of it. The Wolfpac. Yes, that's right. I'm Antonio Lopes.

**FRANK:** _(angry) _What do you want? And how did you get out of prison?

**LOPES:** What I want? What I want, detective is for you to be dead. Maybe your whole family as well, but it's you I definitely want to see dead. You put me in a real bad mood when you put my men and me in prison nine years ago. Anyway, if you want them back alive, come to the parking lot at La Guardia with $250,000. Go to the hangars. You'll see a van. Black, of course. Be there at 11 PM tomorrow night or they'll be the first ones to die!

_The next day, Frank tries to fill his day with things to do so he wouldn't be bored._

_It is a Saturday and he doesn't go to work on the weekends._

_At eight pm, he goes to a nice restaurant. He eats his dinner there._

_He takes his time because he doesn't want to be done early and have to wait around a while._

_At 10:15 pm, he leaves the restaurant and drives towards Grand Central Parkway._

_Then he turns onto an exit for the airport and drives until he approaches upon the airport._

_He drives towards the hangars. He doesn't see the van yet, so he waits. It is now quarter till eleven._

_At 11:00, he sees the van drive towards him._

_The van stops just a few feet in front of his SUV and Lopes gets out of the van._

_Frank opens his door and gets out. Lopes is wearing black pants, boots, and a black shirt._

_He is wearing all black. Frank wears jeans, a Giants jersey, and a Mets cap._

**LOPES:** Do you have the money?

**FRANK:** Here. _(Shoves the bag of money towards Lopes)_ Now where's my family?

**LOPES:** They're in the van. Bring them out!

_Once they are outside the van, Frank tells them to come to him. They do._

_He kisses Vanessa, then hugs Kara, Melissa, and little Michelle._

**He didn't do anything to keep them from coming over to me. That's strange. What's going on here? **_He thought._

_They all get into the truck and drive away._

_Frank sees that the van drives off in the other direction. He drives home._

_When they arrive home, they all get out and head inside._

_Once everyone is inside, Frank tells them all:_

**FRANK:** I don't know what he's up to, but I would lock all windows and the front and back doors. Make sure everything is locked up. We now have two guys to worry about. Kara's kidnapper and now we have Lopes wanting to kill me. Who knows what the kidnapper wants to do.

_He stops so he could breathe. He speaks so quickly he almost forgot to breathe._

**FRANK:** For safety purposes, I think its best for all of us to sleep in our room tonight. Van, you can sleep in bed along with Melissa and Michelle. Kara, you could sleep in the bed with your mom and sisters or take the couch that's up there. I will sit in the chair and keep watch.

_They all head upstairs to the master bedroom._

_The four women go to their respective rooms to change into their bedclothes._

_He goes to the bathroom to brush his teeth and do whatever else he usually does before bed._

_Then all three daughters along with himself walk into the bedroom._

_All four women walk to where they are sleeping that night._

_He goes over to the closet to get his bat and guns. Then he walks over to the chair._

_Later that night, around two in the morning, the kidnapper breaks a window in the living room._

_This awakens Frank. It also awakens Melissa. He gets up, picks up his shotgun:_

**FRANK:** _(whispering)_ Shh. Just go back to sleep. I'll take care of it.

_He walks quietly towards the stairs._

_When he approaches the railing, he peeks over the railing to see the kidnapper._

_All of a sudden, he hears footsteps starting up the stairs._

_Frank steps back from the railing and quietly returns to the bedroom._

_He puts down the gun and picks up the bat. Then he walks to the closet._

_He stands there because when you walk into the room, on the right hand side there's like a 'mini-wall'._

_If you pass that 'wall', the closet is there._

_Frank hears the footsteps coming down the hall._

_There are pauses every few seconds then everything resumes._

_**He must be checking every room**, Frank thought._

_At last, the guy comes to their room. He walks in:_

**MAN #5:** Ahh. Here they are.

_When he walks quietly past the closet, Frank whacks him in the knees with the bat._

_The guy falls to his knees. Frank then hits him on the back of the neck, causing the guy to fall unconscious._

_He then carries the guy over his shoulder down to the basement._

_When the guy regains consciousness:_

**FRANK:** Who are you? Who do you work for?

**MAN #5:** My name is Manny and I work for a Hispanic guy named Lopes. I used to work for a guy name Sretniw.

**FRANK:** Lopes huh? What does he want you to do for him?

**MANNY:** He wants to make sure your family is torn apart before he kills you all. Sretniw and Lopes used to work together many years ago.

**FRANK:** Sretniw? I don't know anyone by that name. Describe him for me.

**MANNY:** He's tall, has bleach blonde hair.

**FRANK:** Oh. You're talking about Jason Winters, another person I'd like to see dead.

**MANNY:** Whatever. All I know, his name is Nosaj Sretniw now.

**FRANK:** Well, I thank you for this bit of info, but now I have to tie you up to make sure you don't escape. We can't have you running off to Lopes.

_Frank tightly ties Manny's legs to the legs of the chair and his arms to the arms of the chair._

_Then Frank puts duct tape over Manny's mouth._

_When he comes back up from the basement, Frank goes to his den._

_He logs on to the Internet to do a search on Lopes and Winters, or Sretniw as he is now called._

_While finding nothing on Sretniw, he does find that Lopes has somehow gotten paroled._

**This is how he got out of jail, he thought.**_ He then turns his computer off._

_A few weeks later, he doesn't receive any phone calls from Lopes._

_He doesn't receive any notes or any sudden appearances either._

_Frank drives by the station one day to pick up a few things before going back home._

_While pulling out of the parking lot, he sees a woman walking on the sidewalk past the station._

_When he sees her, he doesn't think anything of it at first._

_Then he goes to look at her again and she isn't anywhere to be seen._

**That couldn't be Michele could it? Nah, it couldn't be. She's been dead for about twenty years now **_he thought to himself._

_He pulls out onto the street and heads home. When he arrives home, he walks to his den to drop his things from the station onto his desk._

_Then he picks up an old picture of himself and Michele on their wedding day._

_He closely looks at Michele's face. He tries to remember the face of the woman he had seen earlier that day._

**Nah, he thinks, it couldn't be. The two of them do look alike just a tiny bit, but I can't tell for sure.**

_He sets the picture back in its place, walks out of the den and walks upstairs._

_He walks inside his bedroom and sits in the chair. He tries to rest for a while._

_Ten minutes later, something jars him awake. He grabs for his gun off the night table._

_Then he slowly walks outside the room and down the stairs._

_Once downstairs, he quietly walks into the living room. He doesn't see anyone._

_He walks to his den and sees no one there either. He then walks towards the kitchen._

_Once he gets near the kitchen, he backs up against the wall and sticks his head in the doorway._

_He sees Vanessa cooking dinner._

_He eases his grip on the gun, and places it at his side._

**FRANK:** What was all that noise down here?

**VANESSA:** Oh, I dropped a few pots while I was getting one out.

**FRANK:** Where're the kids?

**VANESSA:** They're out back playing. Why?

**FRANK:** No reason. Just wanted to know where they were. I don't like the feeling of leaving you, them, or all four of you alone with what all happened in the past.

_He then walks outside to check on them. He sees that they were all okay._

_He walks back inside the house. Suddenly, he receives a phone call._

**FRANK:** Hello?

**LOPES:** That's quite a nice little shirt your daughter is wearing. Kara I think her name is.

**FRANK:** _(sarcastically)_ How would you know? _(Looks out the window)_

_He sees that she is wearing a tight pink T-shirt, her nipples protruding through the fabric._

**LOPES:** I know because I can see her through my binoculars, that's how.

_Frank then walks outside with his gun in the one hand, phone in the other._

_He slowly walks towards the back of the house. He listens to the phone to see if Lopes is still on the line._

**LOPES:** You'll never find me.

**FRANK:** _(while approaching the van from behind)_ We'll just see about that.

_The van is parked across the street. He creeps along the right side of the van._

_He crouches so he wouldn't be seen by anyone in the back of the van._

_Once he gets to the passenger side door, he stands up, points his gun at Lopes,_

**FRANK:** _(at van window/also on the phone)_ Time's up, Lopes.

_Lopes, shocked, turns towards him and looks at him with a disgusted look on his face._

**FRANK:** _(while walking around front of van)_ Out of the van nice and slow. Keep your hands where I can see them.

_Lopes gets out of the van with his arms raised._

_Once he gets to the driver's side door, he puts his hand on Lopes' shoulder, turns him around, and shoves him up against the van._

**FRANK:** What are you doing here? _(Twisting Lopes' hands behind his back.)_

**LOPES:** Come on. Don't tell me you don't have any idea why I'm here. But if you must know, I came to take a look around and try to plan a way into the house to kidnap your family.

**FRANK:** Well, if I were you, I wouldn't plan on doing such a thing like that. Now, when I let go of you, I suggest you get out of here or you'll wind up like Manny did.

**LOPES: **_(alarmed)_ What have you done to him? (_While some color draines from his face.)_

**FRANK:** He's all right, for now. You _won't_ be if you don't get out of here.

_He then lets Lopes go and Lopes gets back in the van and he leaves. Frank then walks back towards the house._

_While walking back to the house, Frank sees the woman again._

_The one who looks like his first wife Michele._

_He runs as fast as he could towards her but when he gets to the spot where he saw her, she has again disappeared._

**Man, why do I keep seeing her like this? **_Frank thought, shaking his head._

_He walks back into the house and checks up on Vanessa and their daughters. He sees that they all are okay._

_They all are helping Vanessa prepare dinner in the kitchen. He walks upstairs to their room._

_He then remembers that Manny is still in the basement._

_He walks down the stairs to the first floor and then walks down to the basement._

_He sees the chair Manny was sitting in tipped over on its side with the rope laying on the floor beside it._

_He then looks around to see how Manny escaped. That's when he notices the broken window._

**Oh man, he thinks, where'd he go? Probably back to Lopes.**_ He walks back upstairs._

_Vanessa walks up to him and tells him dinner is ready._

_After dinner, Vanessa and their daughters go out shopping._

**VANESSA:** We'll be gone for a couple hours. See you later honey.

_They kiss._

**FRANK:** Don't be out too long.

**VANESSA:** We won't.

_He walks to the living room and lies down on the couch. He decides to take a nap._

_A few hours later, loud knocking awakens him._

_He thinks its Vanessa and the kids. He gets up and answers the door._

_He is a bit surprised when he sees an officer in the opened doorway._

**OFFICER:** Are you Mr. Frank Hardy?

**FRANK:** Yes, I am. What's this about, Officer _(looks at officer's nameplate)_ Jones?

**JONES:** It's about your wife and kids.

**FRANK:** What happened?

**JONES:** We happen to believe that they have disappeared, Mr. Matthews.

**FRANK:** Disappeared? What do you mean disappeared?

**JONES:** We found your wife's car abandoned in The Galleria at White Plains parking lot. They were nowhere to be found.

**FRANK:** Take me there.

_A half-hour later, Frank and Officer Jones are at the mall parking lot near Vanessa's car. _

**FRANK:** How did you know this was my wife's car?

**JONES:** My partner and I managed to unlock the door and search the car for any kind of identification of the owner or owners of the vehicle. When we couldn't, we called the MVA for the identification of the owner.

_After about an hour of looking in and around the car, Officer Jones drives Frank back home._

_After they arrive there, Frank thanks him for his help._

_A few minutes later, Frank gets into his truck and drives back to the mall._

**Maybe I'll find something they didn't, he thought.**

_When he arrives at the mall, he pulls into the space near Vanesssa's car._

_After he gets out and approaches the car, he notices someone in the car._

_He walks toward the driver side door._

_As he is walking, the person gets out of the car._

_He notices that not a man, but a woman was in the car. Frank only sees the back of her head._

_As she turns around, he notics that it was the woman he has seen on two previous occasions._

_When she sees him, she starts running towards the building. As she is running, something falls._

_He runs after her and doesn't notice the something that she dropped._

**FRANK:** _(while running, shouts)_ Stop! Who are you and what do you want?

_Then he stops and picks up the thing she dropped._

_It is just a tiny piece of paper with something written on it. The letter are written on it._

**What does this mean? he thought. Could they be someone's initials?**

**Could they belong to his first wife, which stood for Michele Andrea Hardy?**

_He asks himself these questions in his mind but can't figure them out._

**FRANK:** _(aloud to himself)_ Could she really be Michele? She couldn't be. She died after being shot in the head. But could her death have been faked? Did someone cover up her death to make me believe she was dead? If so, why and for what reason?

_He runs back to where his truck is. He looks inside the abandoned car and doesn't notice anything missing._

_Then he notices a wallet lying on the floor under the passenger seat._

_He picks it up and looks in it. It is Vanessa's._

**FRANK:** _(to himself)_ Why was her wallet in here?

_He sticks it in his pocket and then gets out of the car._

_He gets into his truck and drives home. After arriving home, he walks upstairs and goes back to bed._

_It is now around two in the morning._

_The next morning, he gets up and goes to take a shower._

_After showering, he walks downstairs and fixes himself a cup of coffee. He then walks into the living room._

_While walking past the front door, he notices something sticking out from under it._

_He walks over and picks it up. It is an envelope with his name in the top left hand corner._

_He walks over to the couch, sits down, and sets his cup down on the table in front of him._

_Then he opens the envelope. Inside it is a typed note._

**It read, 'If you really want to know who I am, meet me alone tonight at eight at the aquarium.**

**Don't worry about finding me, I'll find you.'**

_At the bottom are the initials MAH._

**Finally, he thought, I'll get some answers about this mystery woman.**

_He turns on the TV and watches Sportscenter for an hour._

_At noon, he leaves the house and drives to the mall. When he arrives, he sees that the car is no longer there._

_He calls the police and asks for Officer Jones._

**FRANK:** Where's my wife's car? Did you guys do something with it?

**JONES:** No sir. We didn't touch her car. In fact, no one has been out there since I took you there last night.

**FRANK:** Well, we need to do something about finding it. I'll go back home to see if someone drove it there.

_Frank hangs up and drives back home._

_When arriving there, he doesn't see the car anywhere, not even in the garage._

_Just then he receives a phone call. _

**FRANK:** Hello.

**WOMAN:** Don't worry about the car. I'll bring it tonight. See you there.

_Then she hangs up._

**Now not only does she look like her but also now sounds like her too, Frank thought.**

_At seven, he leaves the house and drives to the nearest McDonald's to eat dinner._

_He spends around a half-hour to forty minutes there._

_It is around quarter to eight when he leaves for the aquarium._

_When arriving there, he walks inside and waits for five minutes or so._

_At eight, he sees her walking towards him._

_He sees that she is wearing all black: black turtleneck, boots, and tight jeans._

_As he is beginning to say something, she holds up a finger to tell him to keep quiet._

**WOMAN:** _(whispering)_ Until we get outside, we'll act as if we're a couple in love but we haven't seen each other for a very long time. Understand?

_He nods his head._

**You got that right that we haven't seen each other in a long time. Try twenty years, he thought.**

**WOMAN:** Oh darling, how I've missed you so much.

_She kisses him passionately._

_He just stands there, amazed and a little taken back._

_She is waiting for him to say something but he doesn't say anything._

_She hugs him._

**WOMAN:** Say 'Oh Michele. I've missed you too.' Then kiss me like I just did.

_He says what she told him to say, although he isn't sure if he really should. Then he kisses her._

**WOMAN:** _(takes his hand; speaking quietly)_ Now walk with me outside. I'll take you to the car.

_They both then walk outside._

**WOMAN:** Look over there. There it is.

**FRANK:** Where? I don't see anything.

**WOMAN:** Come on. I'll take you to it.

_But he didn't budge._

**FRANK:** I'll go with you, but not until I have some answers.

**WOMAN:** All right, all right. I'll tell you. My name is really Michele and I am your wife. I can't tell you everything right now but I promise I will someday.

**FRANK:** Why can't you tell me now?

**MICHELE:** I just can't right now. It's complicated. If they were to find out I told you, then I'd really be dead.

**FRANK:** Who's 'they''?

**MICHELE:** That's another thing I can't tell you right now.

**FRANK:** Alright. I guess I'm satisfied for now with those answers. Now take me to the car.

_They walk to a place that isn't really lit well._

_They walk to a big, black shape and then she pulls off the cover._

_There it is, in the same condition it was in earlier._

**FRANK:** Now let me ask you something. Why did you take it?

**MICHELE:** I took the car because I was afraid that someone else would take it. Car thieves or something like that. I didn't want anything to happen to it and I know you wouldn't either.

**FRANK:** Now then, do you know what happened to them?

**MICHELE:** No, I don't. Sorry. But i did see them all get into a black van.

**FRANK:** Was there a red wolf's head on it anywhere?

**MICHELE:** No. This was just an ordinary black van. Look. I want to help you in anyway I can. But you have to promise me you won't tell anyone, and I do mean anyone who I am. If someone asks, tell them that I'm just an old friend. They have eyes and ears everywhere.

**FRANK:** Who's _they_?

**MICHELE:** I thought I told you I can't tell you that right now. By the way, I've been watching you for a long time now. So long in fact that you never go to my grave anymore. Why not?

**FRANK:** I don't know. I guess that I don't want to act as if I still cared about you a lot while being around her. I did care about...do care about you, wondering why you had to die. I guess I'm just so much more in love with her now than you. Anyway, you have a place of your own?

**MICHELE:** I have a place, courtesy of 'them'. Why?

**FRANK:** Well, after I drive home and you drive the car to my house, I was going to take you home.

**MICHELE:** Well, as sweet as that may be, I don't think it would be a really good idea for me to be seen dropped off at my apartment by you. You know...

**FRANK:** Yeah, yeah. I know. They have eyes and ears everywhere.

**MICHELE:** So why don't we drive to your house, wait until late at night, then you drive me back here. My car is parked over there. (points to a white Mercedes)

**FRANK:** Okay, if that's what you want to do.

**MICHELE:** It is. Now let's go.

_They drive to his house. Once they arrive, he tells her to drive the car into the garage._

_After she parks it, she gets out and walks toward him. Then the two of them walk inside the house._

_He leads her to the kitchen and offers something. She doesn't want anything. _

**MICHELE:** Do you mind if I take a shower?

**FRANK:** No. Go right ahead.

_Around ten minutes later, he is surprised when she comes downstairs wearing only a towel._

_He is even more surprised and a little shocked when she lets the towel drop to the floor, revealing her beautiful naked body._

_But what they don't know is that someone is lurking outside, taking pictures of them._

_She walks over to where he is sitting. She sits on his lap, straddling him and with her perky breasts in his face._

_She puts her arms around him and starts kissing him passionately. At first he just sits there and does nothing._

_Then he begins getting into it and starts kissing her. First, he kisses her full, luscious lips._

_Then he starts kissing her all over. He begins kissing her neck and works his way down to her big, full breasts._

_Then he picks her up, carefully stands up, and walks upstairs to his room._

_Once they are up in his room, he sets her down on the bed. Then he takes his shirt and pants off._

_He doesn't take his boxers off because he doesn't plan on doing __**that**__. He __**is**__ married to someone else._

_Then he gets on the bed and continues making out with her._

_He grabs one breast in his hand and begins sucking the nipple gently. She softly lets out a moan or two._

_Then he grabs the other breast and gently sucks the nipple. She now is moaning softly._

_Then he stops. She goes down to his groin area, pulls his gray boxers down, and begins giving him head. Then he finally decides to just go ahead and do it._

_A half-hour or so later, they both suddenly stop. _

**FRANK:** I can't do this anymore. I could if I really wanted to, and do I ever, but I can't. Legally, you're not my wife anymore. Also, I don't cheat on my wife, ever, even though she sorta did. But it wasn't really her fault.

**MICHELE:** What do you mean? I am too your wife. I didn't really die.

**FRANK:** Yeah, that's true. But to everyone else in the world except both of us and those who covered it up think you are dead. I just can't deal with everyone else knowing about this. At least not yet.

_He then gets out of bed and walks in the bathroom and takes a quick shower._

_When he finishes, he comes back into the bedroom and gets dressed._

_He tells her that she can go and take another shower. She does._

_After she finishes and gets dressed, he drives her back to the aquarium parking lot._

_They ride in complete silence the whole way there. When they arrive, she gets out and walks to her car._

_He parks the car, gets out and walks after her._

_When he gets to her car, she is getting ready to shut the door._

_He holds it back because he wants to talk to her. When he looks at her, he sees that she has been crying._

**FRANK:** Look. Don't cry. I'm sorry for what I said. Please don't take it the wrong way. Come here.

_But she didn't move._

**FRANK:** _(a little angry)_ Come here. Get out and come here before I take back what I just said.

_She gets out and walks to him. He gives her a giant bear hug and then kisses her. _

**FRANK:** Listen. I'm really sorry for what I said at home. Don't be sad just because you think that I meant that I don't care for you anymore or that I don't ever want to see you again. You've got to look at it the way I do. If people know that you didn't die, they'll start becoming suspicious and begin asking me questions I don't want to answer because I can't answer them.

**MICHELE:** I failed to mention this before, but Kara, she isn't our only child.

**FRANK:** What do you mean, not the only one?

**MICHELE:** What I mean is that long ago, when we were still in college, we had sex that one time before we graduated. Then we got married after we graduated. You know, when I told you I was pregnant, and then I said that I had a miscarriage. Anyway, I lied because I know that you said that it was just all a big mistake. Having sex before marriage, because of your faith, but I was actually pregnant. We also have a son. I named him Mark Geoffrey. Then right before we got engaged, I sent him to live with my older sister. Now he has a family of his own.

_Frank just stands there, stunned from what all he has just heard. _

**FRANK:** Where is he?

**MICHELE:** He's living somewhere in the Dallas area. I don't know where exactly, they didn't tell me. I want you to promise me that no matter the circumstances, you won't go down and see him. They took him away from my sister when he was six years old. Then they changed his name and changed the name of his father to 'Unknown' on the new birth certificate they had made. He has no idea who you are. Please, promise me.

**FRANK:** I can't promise that I won't ever, but I'll try not to. Anyway, why couldn't you tell me? I mean, I'd probably have kicked myself about how stupid I could've been to fool around like that, but still, you could've told me.

**MICHELE:** The only way I have an idea how old he is now was when he came to visit me. Under their supervision of course.

**FRANK:** Let me come with you. I can disguise my face, in case they're watching. I'd like to see your place. I mean I've already shown you mine. Come on, please?

**MICHELE:** _(giving in)_ Okay, but you come in my car. I don't want them to know about your truck.

_Then she tells him to first drive his truck back to his house._

_Once he parks his truck at the house, they drive in her car towards her apartment._

_When they arrive there, she brings him up to her place._

_Actually it looks more like a penthouse than an apartment._

**FRANK:** Whoa. They paid for all this?

**MICHELE:** Yeah.

**FRANK:** Wow. If they pay for something like this, I wish that I had 'died' and they covered it up. _(Looks over to her)_

_She has a 'please don't say that' look on her face._

**FRANK:** _(walking over to her)_ Just kidding, sweetheart.

_He kisses, then hugs her._

_Since it is late, he offers to sleep on the couch. _

**MICHELE:** Come sleep with me.

**FRANK:** Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, what about them?

**MICHELE:** Oh. They can go fuck themselves.

_Then she takes his hand and leads him towards the bedroom._

_They both sit down on the bed and start undressing each other._

_**Now that I think about it**__, he thought, __**all I've ever seen her wear is black.**_

_**I hope she isn't one of the people who are obsessed with black clothing and/or belong to some cult.**_

_Then they both lie down on the bed and fall asleep, with their arms around each other._

_The next morning, she wakes up before he does._

_She quietly gets up and walks out towards the kitchen._

_She passes the front door._

_She notices a big envelope sticking out from under the door._

_She bends over to pick it up._

_There is no writing on the front of it._

_She opens it and pulls out the contents._

_She can't believe what the contents are._

_They are pictures of her at his house the night before, when she is standing in front of him naked._

_There are also a few pictures of the two of them in his bedroom._

_All of a sudden, the phone rings._

**VOICE:** See those. If you don't tell us who he is, those will be given to newspapers and magazines to publish. They'll be used as blackmail against the two of you.

_Then the phone clicks._

_Frank, who now is awake:_

**FRANK:** _(walking towards her)_ Who was that?

**MICHELE:** I have no idea, but you'd better look at these.

_She then hands him the pictures._

_He takes them from her and looks through them._

_He can't believe that someone would take pictures of them._

**MICHELE:** Oh Frank, what're we going to do about this?

**FRANK:** I don't know, Michele. I just don't know.

_But she isn't satisfied enough by that answer._

_A few minutes later the phone rings. Just before she is about to pick up,_

**FRANK:** _(taking her hand)_ Put the speakerphone on so I can hear too.

_She presses the speaker button._

**MICHELE:** Hello?

**VOICE:** We've changed our minds. We'll use those photos as blackmail right now. By the way, we're going to give copies of those to your wife, detective.

_Then the phone clicks._

_He stands there stunned. He doesn't know how Vanessa would react when she sees those. Actually, he is afraid she'd react the same way he did a year ago when she 'slept' with her boss and she got mad when she found his pictures of him and Michele in their early years._

**Meanwhile...**

_Vanessa and daughters are all tied up._

_Their hands are tied in front of them._

_They are in what looks like a basement somewhere in New York City._

_They are fed something everyday, but whatever it is, it really isn't all that good. They all eat it anyway just to help them survive._

_They aren't, however, allowed to shower or bathe everyday._

_Then a man, dressed in a suit, comes into the room and hands her a stack of photos._

_Then he leaves._

_She looks at them and can't believe what she sees._

**VANESSA:** Why, that bastard. I should've known he'd do something like this one day to just get even with me.

**KARA:** Let me see. _(Vanessa hands Kara the photos)_ Hey, wait a minute! This can't be. This has got to be some kind of sick joke or something.

**VANESSA:** What do you mean?

**KARA:** Look. _(Points to the naked Michele)_ She look familiar?

**VANESSA:** No. Who is she?

**KARA:** Like I said, it can't be, but it looks an awful lot like my mom. But it just can't be her. She's dead, or at least she's supposed to be. Either Dad didn't know anything about this or he has got some explaining to do.

_A few weeks later, he still doesn't know where they are. Michele goes back to her apartment so she won't be suspicious to them. Meanwhile, Frank takes a plane to Dallas. He wants to see his son badly. Michele did eventually tell him his son's 'new' name._

_When his plane lands in Dallas, he walks to a payphone and looks his son's address up in the phone book. He then walks to a car rental place and rents a car and drives to his son's home. When he arrives at the house, he doesn't go up to the door. He doesn't want his son to see him. Not yet anyway._

_Back at her apartment, she receives a knock on her door._

_She goes to look to see who is at her door._

_She goes to look in the peephole and doesn't like what she sees._

_She is now a little frightened._

_It is __**them**__ at the door._

_She opens the door._

**MICHELE:** _(frightened)_ What do you want?

_One of them come at her and grabs her neck._

_He pushes her up against the wall._

**GUY #1: **Didn't we tell you what would happen if your son were found out?

**MICHELE:** What do you mean? _(Now angry and sad at same time)_

**GUY #2:** Your husband just couldn't keep his nose out of where it didn't belong, could he? No, he just had to go down there and see him. Well, now, we're just gonna have to do what we told you we'd do if this happened.

**MICHELE:** _(horrified)_ NO! He didn't mean to. I told him not to go down there. I guess he just couldn't help it, the not knowing. _(Pleading)_ Please, don't do that. I promise you that it won't happen again.

**GUY #3:** Ok. But this is your last chance. If it happens again, even **you** can't save yourself.

_The three guys then leave._

_As they are leaving, Frank walks into her apartment._

_She walks up to him and slaps him hard._

**FRANK:** Ouch! _(Holding cheek)_ What was that for?

**MICHELE:** I thought you promised me that you wouldn't go down and see him. I mean do you know who was just here. _They_ came here and told me that they'd kill him because of you. I don't know whether or not I can trust you ever again.

_She then walks over to the couch, sits down, and starts to cry._

**FRANK:** Oh baby. I'm so sorry. I couldn't help it. I just had to see him, to see what he looked like. See what his family looked like. I never meant to hurt you or him. But you have to understand. How would you feel if the roles were reversed and all of this was happening to you? Wouldn't you want to see the child you never knew existed before, even if they were a grown up now and didn't have a clue as to who _you_ were?

_He walks over to her and sits beside her, taking her into his arms._

**FRANK:** Don't worry. Nothing is going to happen. They'll have to kill me, again, to hurt you or take you away from me again.

**THE NEXT DAY**

_Wherever they are, Melissa is awake and culred up close to Vanessa. _

**MELISSA:** I'm scared, mommy. What are they going to do to us?

**VANESSA: **I don't know, Melissa. I really don't know. All we can do is hope your father comes and rescues us. Soon. Otherwise, they'll probably kill all of us. _(Puts arm around Melissa)_

_Later that day, Frank receives a phone call about Vanessa and their daughters and his other daughter Kara._

**CALLER:** Meet me at the ESPNZONE at 10 pm tonight. Don't worry about finding me. I'll find you.

_At 10 PM, the guy never finds Frank. _**Man, he thought, I hate it when they do this!**

_He runs back to his car and drives home to Michele._

_**SEVERAL WEEKS LATER…**_

_Frank and Michele are walking back to the parking lot at Citi Field after a Mets game._

_Then Frank thinks he sees Vanessa in the back of a black van driving by._

_He takes off after the van._

_When he is close enough to the van, he sees that it isn't her._

_In fact, there is no one in the back of the van._

**MICHELE:** What was that all about?

**FRANK:** I thought I saw her in the back of that van, but she wasn't. How I wish this was all over!

_They walk back to their car and drive home._

_When they walk up to the front door, they see a note sticking out from under the door._

_Frank bends down and picks it up._

_There isn't anything on the front of it but on the back there is something like a map on it._

**FRANK:** Come on. Let's see where this takes us. _(Grabs Michele's hand and run to car)_.

_They follow the map. It takes them to an abandoned warehouse outside NYC._

_When they arrive there, they both get out and run quietly inside._

**FRANK:** (calling out) Hello! Anyone here?

_There is no answer._

**FRANK:** _(quietly to Michele)_ Let's see if Vanessa and the kids are in here somewhere. _(Takes Michele's hand and starts to look around)._

_They look around for about twenty minutes before they find them._

_They find them in a room in the very back._

_The door is hidden behind big crates. Before going in:_

**FRANK:** Stay out here while I go inside. After all, they are my family. Except Kara, she is part of our family.

**MICHELE:** Okay.

_Frank and Michele kiss for a brief second and then Frank goes inside the room._

**MELISSA:** _(runs towards Frank)_ Daddy! I missed you so much.

**FRANK:** I've missed you, too. _(Goes over to Vanessa and taps her on the shoulder). _Van, wake up. It's me, Frank.

_Vanessa awakens and looks at him. When she sees him, she wraps her arms around him tightly._

_Then she kisses him._

**VANESSA:** Oh, Frank. I'm so glad you're here. I don't know what these people want. Just get us out of here.

_Frank helps her up. Vanessa goes over to pick up Michelle while Frank goes over to help Kara up._

_When they all leave the room, they all see her._

**KARA:** _(unsure) _Mom?_ (Looks over to Frank, who nods)_ Mom! _(Runs over to Michele and hugs her)_. I thought you were dead.

**MICHELE:** No. That's what you were supposed to think.

**FRANK:** Hey everybody. I hate to break up this little reunion but can we get out of here before someone finds us.

_Everyone nods. Then they all walk quickly out of the warehouse. When they get to the car:_

**FRANK:** OK. Van and Kara, you two sit in the back and hold Melissa and Michelle in your laps. Michele and I will sit in the front seats. Van, I don't have time to argue about this right now. We have to get out of here

_Once back at the house:_

**FRANK:** All of you, get out and go inside.

**VANESSA & MICHELE:** _(simultaneously)_ But, what about you? _(Both look at each other)_

**FRANK:** Don't worry about me. I have to go run an errand. I'll be right back. _(Turns car around and drives off)_

**MICHELE:** Wait!

_Michele turns around and finds Vanesssa staring at her._

**MICHELE:** What?! _(Walks past Vanessa into the house.)_

_Vanessa shakes her head and walks inside, along with Melissa & little Michelle_

_Frank drives back to the warehouse._

_He drives to a grove of bushes, where he stops the car and gets out._

_He walks to a particular spot, reaches in, and pulls something out._

_It's a mini video camera._

_A few days earlier, Frank thought of where they could be and thought of the warehouse._

_He had placed the camera to record everything that went on around the warehouse._

_When he needed to, he came to change tapes and batteries._

_He gets back in the car and drives home._

_About a few feet from home, he hears a strange noise coming from the car._

_It didn't sound like engine trouble. He stops the car, and gets out to investigate._

_He walks around the car to see where the sound is coming from and what the sound is._

_He checks underneath the car. What he finds terrifies him a little._

_He finds a bomb, set to detonate in less than fifteen seconds!_

_He runs to the driver side and reaches inside to get the camera._

_Then he grabs anything else he doesn't want destroyed._

_He runs to the house. As he steps onto the front lawn, the car explodes!_

_The blast, with tremendous force, makes Frank fall to the ground, hard._

_All the ladies, minus Michelle in the house run outside to see what just happened._

_Then they see his body laying on the ground._

**KARA & MELISSA:**_ (simultaneously shrieking) _DADDY! _(Both run to him)_

_Vanessa and Michele run to him as well._

_When they all reach him, they see that he is laying still._

_They think he is knocked unconscious._

_He then lets out a low groan._

**FRANK: **A little help here, please.

_The four of them help him up. Kara and Michele help him inside. When Vanessa goes to help him, Michele tells her:_

**MICHELE:** I should help him inside. This _is_ kind of _my_ fault.

_Vanessa stands there, feeling really angry and a little bit of jealousy._

_When Vanessa walks inside, she sees that they're finishing bandaging him up._

_When they are finished, Vanessa looks at him. He sees that she has her 'We need to talk' look._

_Vanessa then walks upstairs. He then follows her._

_They both walk into their bedroom._

_Michele quietly walks upstairs and stops at the top of the stairs, eavesdropping on the conversation._

_She doesn't hear most of the conversation._

_She then hears Vanessa asking him:_

**VANESSA:** Why is she always with you? At the warehouse? In the front seat of the car with you? Helping you inside? Helping bandage you? Why?

**FRANK:** How do you think I feel, having to love not only one woman, but two. Two who love me back equally? You think I actually _like_ having to deal with this?

_He doesn't really answer her question._

**FRANK:** Don't give me all this 'Oh why do you hang around her more instead of me' shit. I don't want to hear it. I'm just waiting til this whole thing is over. I'm waiting to find out who did this to me, making me think I lost my wife, then having her turn up years later. And why.

_After hearing this, Michele feels really upset and walks back downstairs._

_When she reached the first floor, she heard him starting to come down the stairs._

_When he is halfway downstairs, she runs outside._

_Frank sees this and runs down the rest of the flight of stairs after her._

_After running outside, he sees her running down the darkened street._

_There is only one street lamp on this part of the street._

**FRANK:** _(shouting)_ Hey wait! Michele! Come back! _(Runs after her)_

_When Frank catches up to her, he sees that she has been sobbing._

**MICHELE:** _(in between sobs)_ What, you... don't love... me... as much as... you do... her... is that... it?

**FRANK:** What! NO! Don't think that! I mean, I just wish this didn't have to happen to me. Don't get me wrong. I'm glad you're here and I've missed you, loved you for a long time. I still do love you. I only wish that this just didn't have to happen to me.

_Upon hearing this, Michele begins to cry even more._

**FRANK:** _(soothing her)_ Come here, Michele. _(When she goes to him, he wraps his arms around her.)_ I didn't mean that. But don't you understand? I don't like having to deal with this. Come on back to the house with me, please?

_They walk back to the house and walk inside._

_Everyone else is asleep._

_He brings her upstairs to his and Vanessa's bedroom._

_They both undressed and got ready for bed._

_When he gets into bed, she asks him:_

**MICHELE:** _(whispering)_ Uh, where am I supposed to sleep?

_Frank pats the bed beside him._

**MICHELE:** _(pointing)_ There? What would _she_ think?

**FRANK:** Oh. She won't mind, not if I have anything to say about it.

_Frank tells Vanessa to move over a little bit. She does._

_He then motions for Michele to get into bed._

_Then Frank kisses her goodnight._

_He also kisses Vanessa goodnight._

_Then he falls asleep, with one arm around each woman._

_**THE NEXT MORNING**_

_Vanessa gets out of bed before anyone in the house does._

_She goes into the bathroom to shower and get ready for work._

_When she walks back into the bedroom, she sees why Vanessa asked her to move over._

_She sees Michele in the bed with him, his arms around her in a loving way._

_Irritated, Vanessa turns around, gets dressed, and walks downstairs._

_**AN HOUR LATER**_

_Frank wakes up and sees that Vanessa had already left._

_When he gets out of bed, he does so quietly, trying not to wake Michele._

_But it wasn't any use._

_Michele awakens._

_Frank sees her get up. _

**FRANK:** I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you.

**MICHELE:** Don't worry about it. What time is it?

**FRANK:** Around 9.

**MICHELE:** Well, I need to get up anyway.

_Michele then walks into the bathroom. She gets ready to take a shower. Then she calls out to him._

**MICHELE:** Would you come in here please, baby?

**FRANK:** _(walking in) _What do you want?

_Michele stands there naked. Again._

**MICHELE:** Get in with me.

_Frank takes his boxers off. She takes his hand and leads him to the shower. But he doesn't get in._

**MICHELE:** What? You used to do this when we first got married.

**FRANK: **I know, but I don't know if I should.

**MICHELE:** Didn't you do this with her when you two married?

**FRANK:** Actually, come to think of it, I don't think I have. Ever.

**MICHELE:** Well, I don't see what the big deal is. I mean, she isn't here. And you have done this before with me.

**FRANK:** _(giving in)_ Alright.

_When they finish showering together, they get dressed. Then they both walk downstairs._

_As he was leaving to go to work, he sees that Kara didn't go to school that morning._

**FRANK:** Kara, why didn't you go to school today?

**KARA:** I thought I'd stay home today and catch up with mom. Is that okay?

**FRANK:** Yes, it's okay sweetheart. _(Pauses)_ Well, be good now. Bye. _(Kisses both Kara & Michele goodbye and then walks out the door)_

**LATER THAT DAY**

_Lopes and his men come to the front door. He rings the doorbell. All the women are home at this time. Michele opens the door. Lopes grabs her and pulls her outside. His men tie her up and put her in their van. Then his men walk inside the house and grab the other females in the house, tie them up and put them in the van as well._

_Around seven that evening, Frank arrives home. But when he sees what is on the door, he grows angry with himself. A note is on the door. It reads: _

_**To see both of your families again, meet us at the WTC Memorial in one hour. If you don't arrive within the hour, they die. All of them.**_

_The only thing for a signature was the word THEM in big black letters._

_Frank runs back to his car and drives toward NYC. as fast as he could._

_Upon arrival at the monument, it was about 7:45._

_He doesn't see anyone around the base of the monument._

_He then proceeds to go inside the monument all the way to the top._

_When he gets to the top, he only sees one person there._

_It is Lopes._

**FRANK:** Where are they?

**LOPES:** They're fine.

**FRANK:** What is it that you really want from me, besides the fact that you want me dead. What is it?

**LOPES:** I'm not the only one who wants you dead, Mr. Hardy. I know why I want you dead, but I don't know why they want you dead.

**FRANK:** They? What do you mean they? They as in the THEM who wrote that note?

**LOPES:** Possibly so. But like I said, I don't know them. Except for the fact that they hired me to do this to you and your family. That is how I got out of prison. They told me that I could be a free man as long as I help them bring you and/or your family to them.

**FRANK:** Anyway, give me back my family. Every last one of them. Now!

**LOPES:** Come with me.

_The two of them take the elevator down to the base of the monument. When they get to the van, one of the back doors open._

_Frank thinks it is his family coming out. Actually , in a way, it is. His son comes out, holding a gun in his hand._

**LOPES:** Mr. Matthews, I believe you know who this is, don't you? It's your son Mark. _(Tells Mark to shoot Frank)_

**MARK:** _(before shooting)_ Why did you kill my mother? Why?

**FRANK:** _(confused)_ What?! Wait! I'll tell you but don't shoot! I didn't kill your mother. She's alive and well. Haven't you seen her?

**MARK:** Lies! All of it! _(Shoots Frank in the arm and gets back into the van)_

**LOPES:** You'd like to know what that was all about. Well, I'll tell you. As you may already know, he doesn't know who you are. He was told that you killed his mother. He doesn't have any idea why he doesn't know his father. And by the way, your family, they're not even here. So long, Detective Hardy.

_Frank gets up off the ground and walks back to his car slowly. He drives to a hospital to take care of his wound._

_**THE NEXT DAY**_

_Frank drives back to the warehouse in N.Y.C. He parks his car and walks inside._

_Once inside, he looks around to see if they are being kept somewhere inside._

_After looking everywhere, he walks back outside and gets in his car. He then drives home._

_After arriving home, he checks the answering machine for any messages. There isn't any. Then he receives a call._

**CALLER:** To see your family again, go to Paris.

_The phone then clicks. Frank goes upstairs, packs a suitcase, and packs all his guns and other weapons into another case._

_He then packs a couple other cases with a couple sets of clothes for every female in the family._

_This is in case something happened to the clothes they already have on._

_He walks downstairs, packs the cases in his trunk and takes off for BWI._

_Once arriving, he takes his baggage and books a flight to Paris._

_The next flight isn't until another hour or so._

_While he waits, he makes a couple of calls. One of them is to a friend on the force to check up on his house while he is away. Another call is to another friend to come get his car from the airport and drive it back to their house to keep until he arrives back home._

_In the next hour, he boards the plane after clearing safely through security. Once the plane is in the air, he falls asleep._

_He dreams about him and his family. At first, the dream is pleasant and peaceful._

_Then they all are Paris and his entire family except him are lying on guillotines. They are all about to be executed._

_The executioner is none other than Lopes. Just as their heads are about to be decapitated, he wakes up._

**FRANK (voice-over):** I hope that doesn't happen to them or to me or all of us.

_Then he falls back asleep._

_**AN HOUR LATER**_

_The flight attendant is telling everyone to fasten their seatbelts and prepare for landing. A few minutes later, they land safely and everyone then proceeds through customs. Everyone passes safely through customs._

_Frank then walks over to rent a car. He rents a very nice sports car. He drives to a hotel._

_He drives to the only hotel he knows of in Paris, The Great Paris Hotel._

_He thinks to himself:_

**FRANK(voice-over):** I know this place hasn't been the happiest of times when I was last here in Paris, but it is a very nice hotel.

_He drives up to the hotel, gets out, unlocks the trunk, gets all of his cases out, and then gives the keys to the valet._

_He then walks inside carrying all of the cases and checks himself in._

_After he goes up to the room and unpacks, he gets a phone call._

**CALLER:** Come to the Eiffel Tower at ten tonight. If you are late, they die.

_At seven forty-five, he goes down to the lobby in an elevator and walks out of the hotel to his rental car. He gets in and drives toward the tower._

_When he arrives, he parks the car and gets out._

_As he's walking towards the tower, he looks around the area for the van._

_He thinks he sees it a few blocks away but in actuality, it's a small tractor-trailer pulling out into the street._

_It's travelling away from the tower._

_He doesn't see anybody standing alone that looks like they are waiting for him. Instead, he takes the elevator to the top. Once he steps onto the platform, he starts to walk around. Before he could take two steps, he notices someone walking towards him out of the corner of his eye._

**FRANK (voice-over):** Maybe it's nothing. It could just be a tourist or something.

_It isn't just any ol' tourist. It's Lopes and he isn't alone. Mark is with him._

_All of a sudden, Mark puts his big, strong hands around Frank's strong neck._

_Mark pushes Frank towards the railing. He then pushes Frank over the railing a little._

**FRANK:** What are you doing? Mark! You don't know this, for whatever reasons, but I'm your father.

_Mark's stronghold on him relinquishes a bit._

**MARK:** What? Is this true? _(looks toward Lopes)_

**LOPES:**_ (walking to Mark) _Do you really believe him? Did you forget that he killed your mother!

_Mark thinks about it._

**MARK:**_ (to Frank) _If you're my father, prove it. When's my birthday?

**FRANK:** July 17th.

**MARK:** Okay. What's my mother's maiden name?

**FRANK: **Your mother's maiden name? Ok, let me think. _(thinking)_ Oh. Her maiden name is Valletta.

**MARK:** One last question. Did you kill mom?

**FRANK:** NO! I didn't kill your mother. She isn't dead. She's alive. But don't ask me if I can take you to see her. I can't because she's been kidnapped, along with your sister.

**MARK:** My sister? I have a sister? What's her name?

**FRANK:** Her name's Kara.

**MARK:** Then, if they're kidnapped, who kidnapped them?

**FRANK:** I don't really know, but why don't you ask Mr. Lopes over here.

_Mark turns around and puts his hands around Lopes' neck. He begins to choke him._

**MARK:** YOU! Where are they? WHERE?

**LOPES:**_ (croaking) _Mark, Mark. Come on. You believe him and not me? Ok then. Be that way. But just know this. Because you know believe him over me, you've just put your mom, sister and your other family members in greater danger.

_Lopes then takes the elevator down to the ground._

**MARK**: Other family members? What's he talking about Dad?

**FRANK**: It's a long story.

_He and Mark take the elevator down to the ground. Frank then explains to Mark how he was sent to his mother's sister after he was born._

_Then he tells Mark how after his sister was born and was two years old, their mother was shot and how he, Frank, believed she died._

_He then tells Mark how a few years later, while he was living in Paris, he met this woman Vanessa and how they fell in love while searching for her family who had been kidnapped by Lopes and his men._

_They got married, had two daughters, Melissa and Michelle. He tells Mark why he named his youngest after Mark's "deceased" mother._

_At this point, the two of them have reached the ground._

**FRANK:** Then, about a month ago, I met your mother. She told me that she hadn't died. She told me it was all a big cover-up. But she hasn't told me why it's all a cover-up yet.

_They walk over to the car._

**MARK:** Wow! What a nice car. Yours?

**FRANK:** Nope. A rental.

**MARK:** So, I have a sister, two step-sisters, mother, father, and a step-mother. It may be weird, but it's my family. So they're all kidnapped? Except you?

**FRANK: **Yeah. They're all kidnapped. Then I got this phone call yesterday telling me to come here to Paris. When I get here, I get another call telling me to meet here at ten. Then you and Lopes showed up. I was hoping Lopes would take me to them. But hopefully I'll get a call later tonight or tomorrow.

_They get into the car and drive back to the hotel. When they pull up to the hotel, the two of them get out and FRANK hands the keys to the valet._

_The valet gets in and drives it to the space where it was parked earlier. They walk through the big lobby, which was hardly crowded, to the elevators._

_Frank pushes the button. A few seconds later, the doors open and they both step inside._

_Once inside, Frank pushes the button for his floor. When the elevator stops at their floor, the two of them get off the elevator and turn the corner. They walk about halfway down the hall before they are in front of their room. Frank takes the room key out of his pocket and unlocks the door._

_He opens the door and they both step inside._

_**AN HOUR LATER**_

_Frank gets a call on his cell phone._

**CALLER:** If you want to see your family, meet us tomorrow morning at eleven at the Eiffel Tower. Bring 250,000 dollars. Then we will take you to them, as long as you bring the money. No money, no family.

FRANK hangs up and goes to bed. MARK is already asleep in the other bed. It is now around one-thirty in the morning.

**THE NEXT MORNING**

_Frank wakes up and takes a shower. When he finishes, he dries himself off and gets dressed. He then gets MARK up and tells him to get a shower, get dressed or do whatever it is that MARK does in the morning. A half-hour or so later, they drive to a restaurant to eat breakfast. At 10:30, the two of them leave the restaurant and drive over to the Eiffel Tower._

_They wait for about twenty minutes before the van drives up. Frank and Mark are waiting in the car, instead of the top of the tower._

_Lopes gets out of the driver's side of the van._

**FRANK:** You go to the back of the van and see if they're in there. If they are, get them out and bring them here. Don't worry about him, I'll distract him somehow. If they're not, hide inside. Take this.

_(Hands over a cell phone)_ Call me when they get to where they're keeping them.

**FRANK: (Voice-over)** I hope this works. _(Sees Mark creep slowly towards the back of the van)_

_Frank gets out and walks towards Lopes._

**FRANK:** Where are they? _(Looks past Lopes and sees Mark get into the van safely.)_

**LOPES:** You'll know soon enough. _(Turns and gets back into the van)_ You'll know soon enough.

_Frank walks back to the car and gets in. He starts it up and drives after the van, which pulls out a few seconds before him._

_**40 MINUTES LATER**_

_The van pulls up in front of a big house. It's more like a mansion. When he feels the van stop and hears the engine cut off, Mark knows that they must be where the family is being held._

_He takes out the phone, remembering what he was told to do with it._

_He dials Frank's number and waits for him to answer._

_Frank answers. Mark tells him that he is where their family is or so he thinks. Frank then hangs up and continues driving._

_He sees where the van pulled off the main highway._

_It was a long, winding dirt road. He drives along the road until he gets to the mansion. He sees the van as he pulls into the driveway._

_He drives to a place where the car wouldn't be seen._

_He shuts off the engine. He doesn't get out just yet. He sits there thinking._

**FRANK (Voice-over):** Man, this place is so big, it could take me forever to find them.

_Then he gets out and walks to where the van is parked. He looks inside the van through the back windows. He can't see Mark anywhere._

_Then he gets a terrible feeling. _

**FRANK (Voice-over): Oh no! What happened to Mark? Did they find him? Did they kill him? Did they take him to be kept along with the rest of them?**

_To make sure Mark is in the van or not, Frank knocks lightly on the back door. He waits a few seconds._

_He doesn't see Mark's face in the window._

_Then he tries the door. It's locked. He walks around the back of the house._

_The door is open._

_Frank feels a sigh or relief because he didn't have to pick it open._

_He begins his search on the first floor. He looks in every room. He doesn't find them._

_He walks up the staircase and then looks in every room on the second floor._

_He doesn't find them here either._

_He walks back downstairs and looks for a door that might lead to a basement._

_He finds the door, but it isn't visible when someone walks inside through the back door. It is covered by a poster of some movie that came out recently. Somehow, he manages to get the door opened. He sees that it is dark down there. He feels around for a switch and turns it on. He walks downstairs. Once he gets to the bottom of the stairs, he sees even more rooms down there._

_He looks in every room. In the very last room, he finds them, including Mark. He walks over to Mark and unties him. Then the two of them untie the rest of them. Once everyone is untied, they follow Frank upstairs and outside to the car._

_One thing Frank then realizes is that there isn't enough room for everyone._

_Then he has an idea._

_Kara, Melissa, Michelle would have to sit on Mark's, Vanessa's, and Michele's laps._

_He tells them of the idea and they all get in._

_Once everyone is inside the car, they drive back to the hotel._

_Michele and Melissa are up front with Frank._

_Vanessa and Michelle are sitting behind Michele._

_Mark and Kara are sitting behind Frank._

**FRANK:** _(to MICHELE)_ I think now's the time to start telling me why your 'death' was covered up. It's obvious that it has something to do with me. They must hate me or something. Otherwise, I'd probably been kidnapped as well.

**MICHELE:** Okay. It all started when you solved all those international cases. Somehow, you made the government angry. Not just the American government, but also the governments of all the countries involved with those cases. They wanted you dead. So someone I thought was a friend told me about what the government was going to do. I had to go along with what they were planning. They told me that if I didn't they'd kill our children.

So I agreed and that's how Mark was taken away from us. And Kara was only two years old or so. So then one day, when you were looking for that guy, this other guy they had told me that would 'shoot' me came out of nowhere and 'shot' me. I can't remember if they told me his name or not. I think his name was Jason something. Winters, I think. The blood you saw was only ketchup and the kind of syrup they use in the movies.

Then at the hospital, they had that doctor tell you I had 'died'. Then they took me to that apartment of mine. The one I showed you.

**VANESSA:** I remember you showing me the apartment. And Jason Winters was that guy's name. He goes by Nosaj Sretniw now. It's his name backwards. How original. Remember him Van? He's the one who was your boss at that insurance company a few years ago. He's also the one who kidnapped you twice.

**VANESSA:** I remember.

**MICHELE:** Okay. Then they told me this other guy, a Hispanic guy, would kidnap Vanessa's family. Why, I don't know. Wait. Yeah I do. They knew you would take the case. But I don't think they anticipated you two falling in love and getting married. When you did though, they told me that they would kidnap Vanessa and eventually kidnap Melissa and Michelle. I don't think they even knew about Kara. Then about three months ago, I was told that they were tired of waiting. They wanted to kill you. They thought that when Jason shot you, you would die. I bet they weren't too happy when you 'came back to life'. So that's why I was trying to get your attention. And the reason I haven't told you until now was that if I had, and they found out, they wouldn't kill just you. They'd kill Vanessa, Melissa, Michelle, Kara, Mark, and your brother and his family. They'd kill your sister and her family as well.

**FRANK:** The Hispanic guy you talked about, that's Antonio Lopes. He's also kidnapped Vanessa in the past. I sent him to jail but somehow he got out. The government was probably involved with that. When we get home, I want everyone to pack all their things. When it gets late, we'll turn off the lights like we're going to bed. But instead, we'll sneak out the back door and leave. Whoever is watching the house will think we're all asleep. They won't know we're not there probably until morning.

**VANESSA & MICHELE:** _(in unison)_ Where are we going to go?

**FRANK:** An old friend of mine owes me a favor. I can get us all fake driver's licenses, for those of us who can drive anyway, fake social security cards, the works.

**MICHELE:** Who's this old friend of yours?

**FRANK:** He works for the government but he won't say a word.

**MICHELE:** How do you know that?

**FRANK:** He won't because if he does, he knows what will happen. I'll have him put back in jail. The reason he isn't there now is because I did a favor for him. Now he owes me. Big time. By the way, we're going to the Bahamas.

_A half-hour later, they arrive at their home. Everyone gets out except for Frank._

**MICHELE & VANESSA:** _(Simultaneously)_ Aren't you getting out, too?

**FRANK:** I would, but how would I be able to get those fake papers done if I did? I'll be back soon, but in the meantime, the two of you pack my stuff for me like my clothes and stuff. I'll pack the rest when I get back. I'll also call the airport and ask when the next flight to the Bahamas is and book a flight. One more thing, please try to get along you two. I love you both equally. So don't do the whole jealousy bit. Now come here, the two of you.

_Vanessa and Michele both walk to him. He kisses Vanessa first and then Michele._

**FRANK:** Bye.

_After he leaves, the rest of them go inside and begin packing._

_On his way to a local cafe, he passes the house where, a long time ago, Michele was 'shot' while he was chasing a criminal through the criminal's house. He remembers the moment as if it happened yesterday._

_Once he gets to the cafe, he sees a pay phone on the corner outside the cafe._

_He drives up to it and stops the car. He gets out, walks up to the phonebooth, and digs out some change for the phone._

_He looks at his hand and sees that he doesn't have enough._

**Dang it, he thought, not enough stupid change.**

_He walks back to the car and gets the rest of the amount he needs for the phone out of the change holder inbetween the seats._

_He puts the change into the phone and dials the number of his friend JAY. JAY picks up._

**FRANK:** Jay, old buddy. How've you been?

**JAY:** _(not believing what he is hearing)_ F-F-Frank? Is that you?

**FRANK:** Yes, it's me. Remember that favor you owe me? It's time for you to do what I ask of you.

Frank thinks,** What an idiot.**

**JAY:** O-okay. What do you want me to do?

**FRANK:** I want you to make me up new identities for seven people including birth certificates, social security cards, driver's licenses, the works. But only make five driver's licenses for me because only five of us can drive.

**JAY:** New IDs for seven people? What are you planning to do?

**FRANK:** Don't you worry about it. One word of this to anyone else in the government and you-know-what happens. Got me?

**JAY:** Yes, I got you.

**FRANK:** Now that's my boy. Now, when do you think they'll be done?

**JAY:** I don't know. Maybe a couple of hours at least.

_Frank hangs up and then dials the number for La Guardia Airport. When a woman picks up:_

**FRANK: **When's the next flight to the Bahamas?

**RECEPTIONIST:** 11:30 tonight sir.

**FRANK:** Good. I'd like to purchase seven tickets please.

**RECEPTIONIST:** How would you like to pay for these?

**FRANK:** Credit card. But I want to pay for them when we get there. Can I do that?

**RECEPTIONIST:** Yes you can. Just come to the American Airlines window when you come in and we'll see to it that you get them. Bye.

**FRANK:** Bye.

_**Man that was easy. **__Frank__ thinks. _

_Then he drives back home. When he gets there, he parks the car and goes inside._

_Once he's inside, he walks upstairs to see how everyone is coming along. He sees that the younger girls are almost done._

_Vanesssa and Michele are done packing his stuff and Vanessa's. He tells Michele:_

**FRANK:** We're going to have to take you to your apartment to get your stuff. They know or they should know by now that you live with me. I don't think they'll be suspicious of your actions.

_After they finish loading up the Durango with everyone's luggage and they all get in, they drive to MICHELE's apartment._

_When they pull up in front of the building:_

**FRANK:** It would go a lot faster if Michele and I just go in. That okay with you Van?

**VANESSA:** _(Annoyed)_ Fine.

_Frank and Michele then proceed to walk in the building and ride the elevator up to her apartment._

_When she unlocks the door and opens it, they both see that the place is a mess. Books, CDs, and other things are strewn all over the place._

_Some furniture is overturned. Some furniture is even missing._

_As they walk through the apartment, they find a note on the refrigerator. It reads:_

**Think you could just disappear into thin air and not Us knowing about it? Guess again. We know you and your idiot of a husband**

**of yours and his other family are going somewhere, but we don't know exactly where yet.**

**We'll find out where you all are going and make sure that either you all don't leave this country**

**or you never leave the place you're going. See you later.**

**FRANK:** Don't worry about them. They won't be able to hurt us when they find us, whenever that may be. I'll take care of them. Let's continue looking around. Let's see if anything else is missing.

**I hope I can take care of all of them**, he thinks.

_As they continue looking around, they pass her bedroom. They see that it also is a mess. Her lingerie is spilled out all over the room._

_The sheets are torn off the bed. The mattress is on its side on the floor. Her clothes are all over the place as well._

_They see that nothing else is missing. She then begins to pack her things, including every piece of lingerie that's strewn all over the room._

_They both then walk to the elevator and take it back down to the lobby. They walk to the SUV and get in. They drive over to the pay phone outside the cafe._

_Frank wants to call Jay again to check up on the progress of the IDs._

_He gets out of the SUV and dials Jay's number. Jay picks up._

**FRANK:** Are those papers ready that I asked you to make for me?

**JAY:** Yes they are. Where should we meet?

**FRANK:** At the airport. Near the hangars.

**JAY:** Ok. See you in fifteen minutes.

**FRANK:** Bye.

_Frank hangs up and gets back into the vehicle. He drives to the airport. When they get there, Jay wasn't there yet._

_So they wait for Jay inside the vehicle. When Jay arrives five minutes later, finally, he thinks._

_He then walks towards Jay._

**FRANK: **Thanks for making these for me. Now you don't owe me any more favors. But remember, not one word to anyone about this or something will happen to you. Now here's $50,000 for doing this. Now get out of here before someone figures out what I'm up to.

_Then the two of them turn around and walk back towards their respective vehicles and get back in._

**MICHELE:** There's something I need to tell you Frank.

**FRANK:** What is it?

**MICHELE:** Well...I found out that I'm pregnant.

**FRANK:** _(surprised)_ What! How far along are you?

**MICHELE:** About four months.

**FRANK:** _(whispers)_ Wh...Oh.

**VANESSA:** _(curiously)_ Oh what?

**FRANK:** Nevermind about that Van. It's nothing for you to worry about.

**MICHELE:** Looks like the family is still growing. _(rubs her still flat tummy)_

_They drive to a nearby hotel. Frank checks everyone in. Kara, Melissa, Michelle are in one room. Vanessa, Michele, and himself in another room._

_He had also made up new identities for his son Mark's family as well as his brother and sister's families as well._

_He arranged for his siblings to live anywhere they choose to._

_Frank also checked Mark and his family into another room, but they wouldn't arrive till later that night._

_After Mark and his family arrived, they all went to bed. Later that night, Frank has a horrible dream._

_**The Dream**_

_He and Michele are coming home from an evening out. He goes to sit down on the sofa while she goes to her room to change._

_He hears her come out. He turns to look at her and is met by a 9mm being aimed at him._

_FRANK: What the...?_

_MICHELE: What? Didn't you know? I'm a Russian spy sent to kill you._

_FRANK: You mean, you always were a spy?_

_MICHELE: (Not really answering the question) No. They're the ones who faked my death and paid for this apartment, along with the US government of course. Now you must die._

_Then she begins to pull the trigger._

_Frank wakes up with a start, drenched in sweat. Vanessa wakes up as well. In whispered tones:_

**VANESSA:** What's wrong baby?

**FRANK: **What? Oh, nothing. It was just a bad dream.

**VANESSA:** Wanna talk about it?

**FRANK:** Not really, but if we must, we'd best wake_ (nodding towards Michele)_ her up too. This also concerns her.

_He gets up and walks over to Michele's bed. He sees that she is sleeping like she has no care in the world. He gently wakes her._

**MICHELE:** _(sleepily)_ Wha...?

**FRANK:** I woke you up because something's happened. Well, in the dream world anyway. I thought it best to have you awake and present when Vanessa and I talk about it.

_He turns one of the lamps on._

**FRANK:** Okay. Here's what happened. I just had a dream where you, Michele, were a Russian spy sent to kill me. And the scariest part is that not only did the Russians fake your death but they had help from the U.S.

_Michele trys her best to hide the shock and surprise from him. Surprised that maybe he's figured out who she really is._

**FRANK:** Is this true?

**MICHELE:** _(trying to sound absolutely sincere)_ No! I'd never want to hurt you like that Frank.

**VANESSA (voice-over): **Now I know why I really don't like her.

**FRANK:** Okay. I'm glad it isn't true. Now let's go back to bed. (shuts off the lamp and climbs back into bed.)

_The next morning, Michele wakes up early and goes down to the lobby. Once she gets there, she pulls out her cell phone._

_She dials her superiors._

**GUY #4:** Hello.

**MICHELE:** I think he's starting to suspect who I really am.

**GUY #4:** Well, you know what to do, don't you?

**MICHELE:** Yes, I do. _(hangs up)_

_**Then she thinks: **_**Unfortunately, I know what I must do.**

_A little while later, everyone else starts to wake up. They all get dressed and go out to eat breakfast._

_While at the restaurant, Frank looks over at Michele, who's sitting and staring at the window, looking lost and confused about something._

**FRANK:** Are you okay Michele?

**MICHELE:** What? Oh yes. I'm fine. I was just thinking.

**FRANK:** About what?

**MICHELE:** Nothing.

_**A FEW MONTHS LATER**_

_Frank and his entire family are living peacefully for the last few months in the Bahamas._

_Everyone has gotten tanned and looks even better than before they left._

_Then one day, while doing various things around their home and in the local town,Frank gets the feeling that someone is watching him._

_He turns around and doesn't notice anybody right away but he does see a couple of men off in the background with shades on._

_Frank decides that maybe it is nothing and continues on with his day._

_But when Vanessa and Kara start receiving threats is when Frank tells everyone about it and wants everyone's input on what to do next._

_Michele thinks: _**Oh no. I was hoping they wouldn't come down here. I wanted to deal with him myself and only myself.**

_Then Michele decides to tell Frank the truth._

**MICHELE: Frank**, sweetie, I have a confession to make.

**FRANK:** Ok.

**MICHELE:** I lied to you about being a Russian spy.

**FRANK:** What! Why?

**MICHELE:** I lied because I didn't want to hurt you. But I decided to come forward and tell the truth because of what's happened to both Vanesssa and Kara. I have orders to kill you because you found out about me being a spy. I don't wan't to but I think if the two of us can come to an agreement, we can come up with a plan that looks like I'll do what I'm ordered to do. But it has to be convincing enough for them to believe and for them to no longer bother any of us. Not even your brother or sister and their families.

**FRANK:** Ok. I'm glad you decided to not kill me. But I'm still not sure what to think of your deception but I'll worry about that later. What do you have in mind about my 'murder'?

**MICHELE:** I was thinking of making it look like a shootout where you shoot me and when you turn around and leave, I shoot you dead. But not really. But for them it has to be death. Hopefully, together we can stop these people once and for all. Unfortunately, you will have to shoot me. No pretending. There has to be a wound. Just shoot me in the arm or something. For you, though, it will have to be a more 'fatal' wound. Maybe something in the middle of your chest or something. For the effect of producing the entry wound and the exit wound, we could have made up an upper body cavity with a hole in the front and back. For the blood, we'll have to find something like they use in the movies for blood or something close to it. Now the important piece of this whole thing. How long can you pretend you're dead?

**FRANK:** Hmm. I'm not sure. I've never had to pretend to be dead. I was dead once but I somehow came back to life. It'll probably take some practice. When did you want to do this?

**MICHELE:** Well, unfortunately the sooner the better. Like I said earlier, I'm hoping this will convince them and they'll leave us alone forever. After it takes place and they want me to come back, I'll tell them there is no need. The job is done and I no longer desire to do this. I'm hoping they'll be fine with that and they'll let me go. Our government has the ability to erase memories. I'm hoping they'll decide to erase my memories of being a Russian spy but not the ones of us. So, we should start on the preparations for this 'operation' of ours. You'll have to start practicing being dead. I'll try to find the stuff to use for blood and also see about getting the body cavity made for you. I do have one request though. Please don't tell her. I can tell she doesn't like me already and when you asked me about this earlier and I lied, I sensed that she hated me even more.

**FRANK:** Okay. I'll keep this from her. For now anyway. Depending on how this all plays out and how I feel afterwards will I decide on whether to keep this from her or not. Fair enough?

**MICHELE:** Well, I may not like that answer but I guess it will do. So, shall we begin?

**FRANK:** Yes. Let's.

_So during the next month or so, they get everything prepared for this 'operation'. Frank practices for about a half-hour everyday pretending to be dead._

_Michele gets one of the contacts of Frank's to make the body cavity and to get the stuff to use for the blood._

_When everything is about ready to go, Vanessa and everyone else start to wonder what Frank is up to as well as Michele._

_When she asks him about what's going on he tells her:_

**FRANK:** Van, for right now, you'll have to trust me. It is a matter of life and death. If I can, I'll try to explain this to you later on. But only if I can. Just trust me on this, please.

**VANESSA:** Oh, alright. I guess I can trust you but I'll tell you this. I absolutely do not trutst HER! There's something about her I just don't trust about her. I don't know how you do other than the fact that she was your wife at one point.

**FRANK:** Was? Well, technically that's true. But also, technically it's not. Yes, up till the point when she came back into my life, everyone else, including me, believed she did die. Everyone except her and everyone involved in the cover-up. That's the technical truth. The technical non-truth is that she is alive and she is still my wife. I may no longer have proof on paper of that but in here (touches his heart) is all the proof I need that we're still married. So, again, please. For right now, just trust me.

**VANESSA:** _(sadly)_ Ok.

_Frank gives her a hug and a kiss and then goes out to find Michele to get this thing started._

_Michele and Frank go to a room in their house alone to make a call to her superiors._

**SUPERIOR:** Yes?

**MICHELE:** It's me. I have decided it's time to bump off the target.

**SUPERIOR:** You're just now getting ready to do that? Why? It should've been done months ago when you first informed us about his knowledge of the truth about you.

**MICHELE:** I know but I had then decided it wasn't time yet. But now it is. You had your men threaten his other wife and oldest daughter. I thought you were going to let me handle this alone.

**SUPERIOR:** We were but since it has been months since when we were informed about this, we decided that it was time for some extra involvement in the killing of him.

**MICHELE:** Well, I'm telling you that it won't be necessary. I'm ready now to do the job. If you want the two men you have down here to oversee it, do so. I don't care. But I must know that after I've completed the job, whether or not I can live the rest of my life in peace, out of the service.

**SUPERIOR:** What? You must be joking. You are our best asset. If you leave, where will we find someone to replace you that's just as good as you or better?

**MICHELE:** I don't know where you'll find one but I'm sure you can train someone to be good as me or better. But if you don't let me leave, I may just tell the Americans that you no longer want to be fair and tell them that you'll double-cross them in whatever your agreement with them is and I may switch sides. They may even have me go and terminate you all.

**SUPERIOR:** NO! No. We absolutely don't want that to happen. Ok. You may leave us after the job is done. But first, I'll have the two men down there oversee it and have them report back to me about his death and hopefully they'll bring me some proof of his murder. You know, however, that we will have to erase from your memory everything that pertains to us and our dealings with you.

**MICHELE:** I know but can you please leave all the memories of just the two of us and everything, except the part of my being a Russian spy, that's happened between us?

**SUPERIOR:** That may be a little difficult, given that some of those memories go along with you being a spy, but we shall do the best we can. If this proves to be undoable, we will create some memories for you of the two of you without the parts of being a spy.

_They then hang up. So does Michele._

**Oh no, **_**she thought**_**, they want proof? I wasn't expecting that. What are we going to do?**

_She turns to Frank and asks for his opinion of what to do about the 'proof' that they want._

**FRANK:** I know what we can do. We can also have a head cavitiy made up so that you or they can chop my 'head' off and bring it to your superiors. I'll still play dead but this will take a little extra work but I'm confident enough that this will work. By the way, in case this backfires on us, I just want to say that I love you with all my heart. I've loved you since the first moment I laid eyes on you back in freshman year of college. I fell more in love with you when we first started dating and when we got married, I fell so deep in love with you that no one else could possibly fall in love with anyone. I still love you even now, whether you're a Russian spy or not. And you must understand that I love her the same way. I'd do anything for either one of you or both of you to keep you both and our children safe. If it came down to it, I'd willingly die for all of you. Whether it's to make certain individuals happy or to protect and keep you all out of harms way so that they wouldn't have to kill any one of you to get back at me.

_After this, he walks over to her and lays on her the biggest, longest, and passionate kiss he's ever given her. Then he goes in search of Vanesssa and gives her the most passionate and longest kiss he's ever given to her._

**FRANK:** I love you Van. Maybe more now than ever before but I do love you from the deepest depths of my being.

_The next day, Michele goes into town and locates the two Russian agents sent down there. She then tells them what she's going to do._

_Then she tells them that it's to take place in a very private location where it will just only be the two of them, her, and the 'target'._

_Michele then returns home and tells Frank that it's time to do it._

_He proceeds to put on the appropriate body wear that is to be used for the 'murder'._

_They briefly kiss and then head out to the location._

_The 'murder' is to take place in a very secluded, private grounds of an old, abandoned estate far away from anyone._

_Before she starts to kill him, she tells the two Russians:_

**MICHELE: **After I've shot him, I then shall cut off his head for you to give our superiors back in Moscow. This should convince them that it is finally finished and then I shall leave you all to live out the remainder of my life in peace. After they've removed all my memories of being a spy and all that but leaving all the good memories I have. Now I shall begin.

_She then proceeds to aim for the spot where they've practice for her to shoot at, but after he shoots her in the arm._

_She shoots him, hitting the packets of 'blood', causing them to burst open and produce the 'blood.'_

_During their practices, they hooked up the packets in the front of the suit with the ones in the back to create the blood coming out the back as well as the front._

_She asks for one of the men to come over to Frank and to stick their finger in the hole to show that she had indeed shot him._

_The man sticks a finger in the hole and is satisfied. He then gives the thumbs-up sign to his partner to let him know that it was for real._

_Now it is time for her to chop off his 'head'. She grabs the long, thin sword from the ground and slices it off._

_Also during their practices, they had placed the packets of blood all around his neck area to create the effect of blood seeping out when the head is taken off._

_She then picks up the head and presents it to the two men. They then turn it upside down to check to see if the appropriate things were there._

_They check to see if the neck bone and the surrounding muscle tissue is there and, upon seeing it, they are convinced that he is dead._

_But one of them, just to double-check, checks for a pulse. Upon not finding one, they then proceed to go back to their plane and fly back home to present Frank's head to their superiors. They ask for Michele to join them so that the preparations of her memory erase are performed._

_About twenty minutes after they leave, Frank gets up, sticks his real head out from under his clothing, and checks for any signs of them._

_He doesn't see any and then gets up. Then he takes off the body cavity and looks at it. At first glance, it certainly looks like the real thing._

_He puts it back together to double-check the alignment of the two holes. They are perfectly aligned. He then proceeds to go home._

_Upon returning home, he runs into Vanessa. She sees him._

**VANESSA:** Oh my god. What the hell happened to you? Are you alright? Are you hurt?

**FRANK:** Van, I'm perfectly fine, with the exception of a few shocks. See? _(Takes off shirt to prove there is no blood actually coming out of him) _The 'blood' you see is this stuff. _(Shows her the fake blood, then shows her the upper body cavity with the two holes in it.)_

**VANESSA:** Oh. So you're okay. But what the hell is this thing and what was it for?

**FRANK:** I'll tell you but I'll only tell you part of it. This _(holds up the suit)_ was for the effect of me being dead. I'll tell you more but we have to wait till Michele comes back.

**VANESSA:** Michele? What the hell does that bitch have to do with this? She got you into something and there was some trouble and you were to be killed, weren't you? I knew it! You know how I hate that bitch!

**FRANK:** Hey! Can we please not call her that? She is my wife you know. I know how much you hate her, but that doesn't give you the right to call her what you want. At least not in my presence anyway. You may call Michele anything you want to, just as long as I'm not around anywhere to overhear what you call her. Please, can you do this for me at least?

**VANESSA:** Okay. I won't call her any nasty names when I'm around you. But the question remains. She got you into something, didn't she?

**FRANK:** The only thing I can tell you without her here is that yes, I got into something and I was to be killed. When she gets back, the three of us will sit down and have a long conversation about this and everything that goes with it. Maybe, I'm hoping at least a little, that at the end of that, you may start to like her. But like I said, maybe just a tiny bit.

**VANESSA:** I won't make any promises but we'll see. And I'll wait till she gets back to find out what the hell just happened. Where is she anyway?

**FRANK:** She, uh, had to leave the area for a little while. Her departure also has to do with what just happened.

_Back in Moscow, the superiors examined the 'head' of one Franklin Richard Hardy, international detective and secret agent._

_Then they got in touch with the people in America who were in league with the Russians and agreed that finally the matter was closed._

_They set up the appointment for the memory erase after she goes back to the Bahamas to explain to Vanessa and all the kids about what happened._

_But what they didn't know was that Frank is still alive and he will be present for the explanation to Vanessa and everyone else._

_Once arriving in the Bahamas, she goes to where everyone lived._

_Upon seeing Frank, she runs up to him and gives him the most passionate kiss she's ever given him._

**FRANK:** Michele, we need to have a long talk about what just happened with Vanessa. Now, I've told her that this talk is going to take place. When she saw the body cavity, I told her only that I gotten mixed up in something with you and I had to be killed. But that's all I've told her. I didn't tell her about you being a spy or anything else like that. I just told her that we both would explain things to her about what's just happened.

**MICHELE:** Okay. I guess I'm ready for that. I thank you for not telling her anything else than you have already. I really appreciate it. Okay, now. Let's have this talk.

_Frank goes and gets Vanesssa, Kara, and Melissa and brings them into the expansive living room._

_He has them sit down around the room._

**FRANK:** Vanessa, Kara, and Melissa? Michele and I have something to discuss with you. Once she's older, and if she remembers anything about our moving down here and all that, we'll tell this to Michelle as well but for now it's just you three. We will also explain this to Mark at a later date. Now Vanessa, you already know part of this, but Kara and Melissa, yesterday I came back to this house with blood on my shirt. Vanessa thought I had been hurt. But I really wasn't. It was just an act. I had to participate in an act where I was 'killed' by Michele. She'll tell you more about that in a bit, but she had to kill me because people in Russia as well as back home in the U.S. wanted me killed because of things I've seen and done. I used to be this world-famous detective, solving cases all around the world. Unfortunately, though, not to my knowledge, in some of those cases, there were people involved from America and from Russia who were doing illegal things, things that I had put a stop to. This must have been what made them hate me so much that they wanted me dead. I'll let Michele tell you all the rest. If you ask me that whatever she has told you is true or not, I'll tell you if it is or not. Your turn, Michele.

**MICHELE:** Okay. For years now, I've been a spy for the country of Russia. I came to America to look after Frank and to keep an eye on him for my country. But what neither I, nor my country and eventually America didn't plan on, was that the two of us got to know each other and fell in love. Then over the next few years, we got married, and then Mark was born. Then I was informed that both countries were growing impatient with Frank disrupting their plans. So they planned to have me killed. They weren't going to really kill me, but they were going to make it look like I was. Then we had you Kara. But to keep both you and Mark safe, we sent the two of you to live with our siblings to keep you both safe. Then came the day I was to be killed. During this one case of Frank's, when he was chasing a suspect through their house, this guy came out of nowhere and 'shot' me and poured fake blood all over me to create the effect of my death.

Speeding up to a month or so after that, Frank was so upset that he moved to Paris and became just as famous a detective over there as he was in America and everywhere else. Then my bosses had the idea of kidnapping Vanessa's family, knowing exactly that upon hearing about it, Frank would take the case. He did, but something happened that no one expected to happen. The two of them fell in love during the case and gotten married after it was solved. The people responsible for the kidnapping were placed in jail. Ten months after they were married, I believe you were born Melissa. But after you turned one, they sent you to live with his brother's family to keep you safe from whoever would've come after Vanessa or her family again. Then I believe, four years after that Vanesssa was kidnapped by the same people who kidnapped her family years before. Frank rescues her and has the men put in jail again. Four years after that, it happened again. He saves her again, people put in jail. This all kept happening because they wanted it to so they could get to Frank and have him killed.

Or have part of him killed if Vanessa died. Then, at this point, Vanessa was Frank's partner on all his cases. They were on this case where a mascot was kidnapped. Eventually the mascot was returned but then the mayor of New York was kidnapped. During this case, I believe, is when you were old enough to live with them. Right Melissa?

**MELISSA:** Yes, I think that's right. Is that true, dad?

**FRANK:** Yes it is. Continue.

**MICHELE:** The mayor was returned. Then Vanessa was kidnapped a third time and so were you Melissa. This time it was by someone else who was hired by my former bosses. I say former because I'm no longer a spy. But I'll get to that towards the end of all this. Frank saves them again, but then he starts hitting the guy who kidnapped you so hard that it seemed as if he would kill him. But he didn't. Then he suspended himself from the police department because of this. A few months later, Michelle was born. A few years after Michelle was born, Vanessa was no longer Frank's partner and was working for an insurance company. Her boss turned out to be the same guy who had kidnapped her the last time she was kidnapped. Her boss made her have sex with him to make Frank jealous enough for him to leave her. But Frank didn't leave her. He got really mad and almost divorced her. But they decided to separate for a little while. By the way, her boss, was the guy who was sent to 'kill' me years before. Anyway, Vanesssa and you Melissa get kidnapped again along with Michelle. But Melissa escapes and returns to Frank.

The way Frank found out about the sex Vanessa was forced into having was that it was on a videotape which he found when she returned home from a business trip. During the exchange Frank had agreed to let Vanessa and Michelle go, Frank was shot really bad. It was bad enough that he had to go to the hospital to have immediate surgery. But they couldn't save him. Frank died, but then he miraclously came back to life. This was in the news the next day. This is how I came into the picture again. I heard about it and moved to Bayport where you all were living at the time. Then you came into this whole thing Kara. Apparantly, you were arrested for something and were taken to the police station where Frank was working at. He saw you and took you home with him to meet everyone else. Then guess what, you all were kidnapped. Then I met with Frank.

I told him about having Mark because, even though Mark was born before any of this ever happened, Frank didn't know about it till then because I never told him. The sex we had in which Mark was the result happened in college before we were ever married. But back then Frank didn't believe in sex before marriage even though he did it anyway. I just didn't want to upset him at that time. Anyway back to the story. I explained about how I really didn't die all those years ago and how it was all covered up. It wasn't until recently that Frank found out I was a spy for the Russians. I wasn't ever allowed to let him know because if I had let him know, I was to kill him. So I chose not to tell him until recently. Then we both rescued you all. Then Vanessa started becoming jealous of me. I may not like it but I'm not mad at her for it. I'd be the same way. Anyway, you all were kidnapped yet again. Upon many attempts to get you all back, Frank finally met Mark face to face, but at the time, Mark didn't know who Frank really was. He was told that Frank was the one who had killed me many years ago. Then, while in Paris, after Mark tries to kill Frank, Frank tells Mark who he really was and then Mark turned against your captors, who were in fact, the same ones who first kidnapped Vanessa and her family the very first time. They let him out of jail along with his men, if he helped bring Frank to them to be killed. Then Frank explains to Mark about the truth of everything that happened after he was born, told Mark about you all. Frank, can you take over for just a little? I need a little break to rest my throat.

**FRANK:** Okay. Anyways, we rescue you all again. Afterwards, I asked Michele to explain every little detail about her so-called death years ago and why I was supposed to be killed. She told me everything and thats when I decided for all of us to come down here. But after being here a month or so, I noticed these two guys watching me while I was in town. I never really saw them but I knew someone was watching me. Then I told Michele about it and that's when she told me all about her being a Russian spy and how she was sent to kill me because of all of the things I did to mess up her boss's plans before and after I first met her. Then the two of us came up with the idea of staging or pretending my death. We had to come up with that idea because she couldn't really kill me. She loves me too much to do that. We had this body suit made up along with a fake head so she could 'shoot' me and then chop my 'head' off to convince her bosses that I was really dead. And that's everything really important. That's what lead to this big long explanation which has lasted now for about a few hours.

**MICHELE:** Okay. It's true about me loving him so much. I really couldn't kill him. If I really had, I may have killed myself afterwards because I would've been so sad about what I had done. Then after I 'killed' Frank, I told my bosses that I no longer wanted to be a spy for them and wanted to live the rest of my life the way I want to. But they have to wipe away all the memories of me being a spy. So I have to go back to Russia tomorrow to have that done. They sent me back here before wiping away my memory so that I could explain to Vanessa and you two about who I really was and why I had 'killed' Frank. But what they don't know is that he isn't dead. They think he is, which is important. Also, I told them that they had best leave you all alone from now on. They agreed, as long as I have my memory wiped clean. So that is everything. You now know the truth about everything. About me anyway. So do you, Kara and Melissa, hate me like Vanessa does? Vanessa, I hope you can start to like me just a tiny, tiny bit. If the roles were reversed, I know I would hate your guts but after you explain everything and you say something that proves how much you love him, I'd have started to like you a little. Not a whole lot. But a beginning.

**KARA:** No, I don't hate you mom. At least now, I know why I had to live with my aunt and uncle all those years.

**MELISSA:** No, I don't hate you Michele. I still don't know you a whole lot but I don't hate you. At the beginning of this, I started to not like you a little. But when you said how you could never hurt daddy, I believed you and then whatever feelings I had about not liking you went away.

_Melissa then gets up and gives Michele a hug. Then she sits back down._

**VANESSA:** Well, this all certainly explains a lot about your relationship with him. I still may hate you a lot but I think I'm beginning to like you a tiny bit. I thought you were very sincere when you said you love him so much that you couldn't really kill him. Like you said, if the roles were reversed, I probably wouldn't have wanted to really kill him and would've come up with a plan to pretend I kill him. I love him just about as much as you do if not more. I say that because one of the reasons I love him is because of what he did for me and my family all those years ago in Paris. You two may be in love for a hell of a lot longer than he and I have but the love is just as strong. So I think I can become a little nicer to you Michele. Truce?

**MICHELE:** Truce.

_Michele then gets up and walks over to Vanessa. She gives her a handshake._

**MICHELE:** Well, maybe for the rest of our lives Vanessa, we can become the best of friends I hope. We'll take it very slow of course, since we are 'rivals' and everything.

**FRANK:** Now, just as another precaution, I think we should hold a memorial service for me._ (Everyone else just stares at him like he just went crazy.) _What I mean is that this way, they will really think I'm dead cuz they'll probably see that I'm being laid to rest in a cemetery. I'll have to think of what to do while you all are at the 'service'.

_Over the next week Michele and Vanessa along with Frank planned his 'memorial service'. They came up with the idea that if they just think that it was really him in the casket that they should be able to cry hysterically. The day of the service, Michele, Vanessa and the girls and Mark, who they had called to tell him of the 'service', all start crying to keep up appearances. Meanwhile, Frank is hiding in one of the cars they all took to the graveyard. Luckily for him the car he's in has tinted windows._

_During the service, Vanessa looks around and she sees two guys standing a few yards away watching them. As they start to lower the coffin, which is mahogany in color, she tells Michele about the two guys and points in their direction. But when they both look towards them, they don't see anyone._

**Vanessa:** I could've sworn there were two guys standing and watching us. I wonder who they were. You don't think they're some of your fellows spies after us do ya?

**MICHELE:** For all of our sakes, I sure hope not.

_It is time for Michele to go back to Moscow to get her memory 'erased'. Her superiors do the best they can to only erase the spy memories, keeping intact her memories of being in love with Frank and all her other memories like that. But when the procedure is done, they have something else in mind instead of just letting her go back._

**A Few Months Later…..**

_During the past few months, Frank went a little crazy not knowing what happened to Michele and why she didn't come back. So he has an idea. He decides to send Mark after her and to bring her back. So Mark sets off for Moscow to find his mother._

_Once arriving in Moscow, Mark goes to the Russian government headquarters to find out what happened to Michele._

**MARK:** Где - моя мать Микеле Хардай ?

Where is my mother Michele Hardy?

**RUSSIAN:** О ком Вы говорите?

Who are you talking about?

**MARK:** Вы знаете, о ком я говорю. Микеле Хардай. Она имела обыкновение работать для Вас.

You know who I'm talking about. Michele Hardy. She used to work for you.

**RUSSIAN:** Я сожалею. Я действительно не знаю, к кому Вы обращаетесь.

I'm sorry. I really don't know who you're referring to.

_M__ark__ pulls out a picture of M__ichele__ and shows it to the guy, hoping that seeing the picture will help him remember._

**MARK:** Это - о то, ком я говорю., мы надеемся, это зажжет вашу память.

This is who I'm talking about. Hopefully this will spark your memory.

**RUSSIAN:** О. Ее. Жаль. Не может сказать я.

Oh. Her. Sorry. Can't tell ya.

_M__ark__ decides to pull a gun out on him to make him tell him or there would be consequences._

**MARK (in a pissed off voice)****:** Теперь в последний раз, где - она? Не заставляйте меня убить Вас или кого - либо еще также.

Now for the last time, where is she? Don't make me kill you or anyone else as well.

_The Russian begins to write down something and then hands it to M__ark__. It's an address. They had put her up in a nice apartment to live in for the rest of her days without any knowledge of her past, or at least the past they erased._

_Looking at it, __Mark __reads: 318 Улиц Рынка _

_318 Market Street_

_Mark__ decides to get a cab and ride over there. Once he gets there, he walks up to the door and knocks. When she opens the door, she looks like she hasn't a clue as to who this stranger is on her doorstep._

**MICHELE:** Кто - Вы?

Who are you?

**MARK:** Мама, разве Вы не признаете меня? Это - я Марка.

Mom, don't you recognize me? It's me Mark.

**MICHELE: **Мама? Я не мама. Или я не имею никаких сыновей. Я имею маленькую девочку где-нибудь. Но я не помню, где она.

Mom? I'm not a mom. Or I don't have any sons. I have a little girl somewhere. But I don't remember where she is.

**MARK:** Да Вы действительно имеете сына. Я. Разве Вы не помните? Здесь, я хочу показать Вам некоторые картины. Возможно они помогут Вам помнить.

Yes you do have a son. Me. Don't you remember? Here, I wanna show you some pictures. Maybe they'll help you remember.

_M__ark__ takes some photos out of his bag. He gives them to __Michele. Michele __takes the photos from M__ark__ and looks through them. They are:_

_Photo 1: A picture of her and Frank back when they were in college._

**MICHELE:** Кто - это?

Who is this? _(Points to Frank)_

**MARK:** На английском языке. Я знаю, что Вы можете говорить на английском языке.

In English. I know you can speak in English.

**MICHELE:** _(slowly, trying to remember how to speak in English)_ Okay. Who is this?

**MARK:** That is my father. Your husband. This was when you two were in college. Do you remember anything about him?

**MICHELE:** I'm not sure. What is his whole name again?

**MARK:** Franklin Richard Hardy.

**MICHELE:** I remember very little. But I now remember how much we loved each other then.

_She then proceeds to look through the rest of the pictures. They are:_

_Photo 2: Her, Frank,__ and Kara_

_Photo 3: Frank__, Vanesssa, Melissa, and Michelle_

_Photo 4: A picture of all of them_

_After looking through them all, she places them all out on the floor and asks questions about some of them._

**MICHELE:** Who is this? _(points to KARA)_

**MARK:** That is my sister Kara. She's the 'little girl' you mentioned earlier. But she's all grown up now.

**MICHELE:** That's my baby girl? My, she really has grown. Does she know me?

MARK: Of course. Up until a few months ago, we were all living together in the Bahamas. You used to be a spy, sent to kill dad but you fell in love. Then they faked your death to make him very sad. Then about a year ago, you reappeared to dad and told him all about your fake death. I won't go into everything but then you told everyone how you were a spy even before you met dad and how everything that happened to him was somewhat planned out by your former bosses. Anyway, to make a really long story short, they told you they wanted him dead for good and you were to chop his head off.

To make sure you went through with it, they sent two guys to watch. But what they didn't know was that you and dad were only pretending to chop his head off. Then you told them you wanted to have your memory erased or at least your memories of being a spy erased. You told them you wanted to keep all other memories, especially ones involving you and dad being in love and stuff. I guess something happened and they didn't quite do that.

**MICHELE: **_(Nodding slowly in understanding) _Okay. Now who are these people with Frank? _(Points to the photo of Vanessa and the girls)_

**MARK:** That is Vanessa, Frank's other wife. He married her a little while after you 'died'. The two young girls are their daughters, Melissa and Michelle. Dad wanted to name the youngest after you. Except he spells her name with two L's. So, do you want to come back home with me so you can see them for yourself in person instead of in photos?

**MICHELE:** I don't know.

**MARK:** It can't be that bad. Where's the harm in going with me? You're afraid of what they may think? Who cares what they think. You can't be much of a threat to them now since you have no memory of working for them. So please, come with me?

**MICHELE:** Okay. I'll go with you.

_Once she has packed her things, they set off for the Bahamas. When they get there, they're in for a little surprise._

**FRANK:** Mark welcome home._ (Gives him a hug. Then sees Michele behind him. Eyes go wide.) _Michele? Michele! _(Runs to her and picks her up in a hug and swings her around.)_Oh, I've missed you so much.

_When she gives him a funny kind of look, Frank looks to M__ark__ with a confused look on his face._

**MARK:** Dad, she doesn't remember a whole lot. She just barely remembers you. I'm not sure if she remembers anyone else except Kara. She remembers Kara, but she thought that she was still a little girl until I showed her some pictures of everyone.

**FRANK:** Oh. Okay. I understand. _(Turns to __Michele) _It'll be okay. We'll get through this.

_Mark__ looks around. He sees __Kara, Melissa, and Michelle __down by the water playing but he doesn't see Vanessa anywhere. He walks up to Frank._

**MARK:** Dad. Where's Vanessa? I don't see her out here anywhere.

**FRANK: ** Oh yeah. I forgot. She went out to the store for some things. She should be back soon.


End file.
